Jandy's Reading Room

Land of a Thousand Dreams

B.J. Hoff

Relaxing

General Fiction and Poetry Christian Novel1/23/1999 Rating: 4 1/2 Scrolls

The third of the Emerald Ballad Series, this novel continues the story of Nora Kavanagh Whittaker and her childhood friends Michael Burk in New York City and Morgan Fitzgerald in Dublin, Ireland. This installment focuses more on Michael and Morgan, although Nora is not ignored.

Michael is engaged to the heiress, Sarah Farmington. Michael's son, Tierney, cannot accept Sarah. He keeps pulling away further from his father and his friend Daniel Kavanagh. Tierney lets himself get involved in Patrick Walsh's organization. Michael knows Patrick Walsh is one of the strongest criminals exploiting the Irish in New York City. He just cannot get the evidence yet to prove it.

Morgan, with his man Sandemon and his ward, Annie Delaney, adjusts to life in a wheelchair. Morgan brings in an unorthodox nun, Sister Louisa, to help with Annie. He also befriends the lady who rescued Annie, the lovely Finola.

Jess Dalton, the preacher in New York, gets more involved in the mission work in the Five Points Area. He gets a boys choir to get started. His family saves a young negro boy who was shot in a riot. He starts ministering to the "freaks" who live in the Bowery.

Once again, I enjoy the take that Hoff weaves. These Christian people have real lives, with real problems. The squalor of Five Points and the Bowery is illustrated well. The life of the Irish in Dublin centers around the Fitzgerald home, and the complexities of the changes in Morgan's life. I'm looking forward to the next installment of this saga.

  You might also like:

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

Book Rating System

  • Explicit sexual content - very explicit sex or erotica
  • Graphic violence - explicit scenes of gore or violent acts
  • Non-graphic violence
  • Strong language
  • Strong sexual content - somewhat explicit sex
  • Suggestive dialogue or situations

There is only me at this site, so I'm counting on you to be my copy editors. If a link is broken, I've made a typo, or there is some other error you notice, please send me an e-mail. Make sure you mention the book title because these go to a general mail box and I don't always know which book you might mean. Thanks!

© 1998 - 2013 All reviews are personal opinions and not necessarily those of the webmaster of Jandy's Reading Room