The Gold in These Hills by Joanne Bischof

 

The Gold in These Hills

I’ve really enjoyed Joanne’s work in the past and was excited to read this novel.

Let’s begin with the summary:

When mail-order bride Juniper’s husband vanishes, she writes to him—but fears she's waiting for a ghost in a ghost town. A century later, Johnny Sutherland discovers her letters while restoring her abandoned farmhouse. Can her loving words from the distant past change his present?

1902: Upon arriving in Kenworthy, California, mail-order bride Juniper Cohen is met by the pounding of the gold mine, an untamable landscape, and her greatest surprise of all: the kind and charming man who awaits her. But when the mine proves empty of profit, and when Juniper’s husband, John, vanishes, Juniper is left to fend for herself and her young daughter in the dying town that is now her home.

Juniper pens letters to her husband but fears she is waiting on a ghost. Perhaps worse, rumors abound claiming the man she loves could be an outlaw. Fighting for survival, she befriends the few people left in Kenworthy and refuses to leave, resolving to be exactly where her husband left her in case he comes home. Surviving in a ghost town requires trusting the kindness of a few remaining souls, including the one who can unlock the mystery of her husband’s disappearance.

Present day: Trying to escape the heartache of his failed marriage, Johnny Sutherland throws himself into raising his children and restoring a hundred-year-old abandoned farmhouse in what was once known as Kenworthy in the San Jacinto Mountains. While exploring its secrets he uncovers Juniper’s letters and is moved by the handwritten accounts that bear his name—and as a love story from the past touches his own world, Johnny might discover yet that hope and resilience go hand in hand.

And now, my review:

Joanne’s strong prose hooks readers from the first line: It’s paramount that my daughter and I survive the coming winter, yet ghost towns are not for the living. Epic, right? I loved that we’re in first person, my favorite narrative choice.

This split-time novel is unpredictable and inventive, elements I liked.

The historical heroine’s life is a challenge for survival, and she’s raising her daughter alone, suddenly, which raises the stakes.

One of the themes, as the MC (main character) fights with her community to keep her townspeople alive, is that of restoration. Some towns just die. Will hers?

We bounce back and forth between the past and the present. In the past we’re in the heroine’s POV, fighting to carry on. In the present, in a very strong male POV voice, we’re doing a bit of the same while restoring a farmhouse. He’s a contractor, who also must overcome and raise his children. Each MC is sympathetic and likable.

Another theme was that unknowns can paralyze us in place, but there can be treasures in the darkness. We have to go through the challenges to find those riches. The characters have to face the pain of love and loss, the deserts of life. There's a choice to hope, or not. Very relatable.

Unfortunately the story lost me near the end. I ended up skimming. Perhaps it was the season of the pandemic, but life was already heavy enough and I gave up on this story. I felt there was a lot of potential, but it didn’t play out the way I’d hoped.

Still, I wish the author and publisher all the best. I will definitely watch for more novels by this author.