Title: Mrs. Mike
Author: Benedict & Nancy Freedman
Series: Mrs. Mike, book 1
Major Themes: Canada, Arctic, Mounties, Alberta
Synopsis: When Katherine Mary Flannigan traveled from Boston to Alberta for her health, she never expected to find love in the Far North!
I first read Mrs. Mike when I was about nine or ten years old. My family often went to spend the evening in other people’s homes to visit with them, and when we visited people who didn’t have children near my age, I would often find a book in their house and read it. This was one of those. This story made quite an impression on me. Frankly, I can’t imagine any of my own children reading it at that age, but when it came to books, I was rather precocious.
Publisher’s description:
Recently arrived in Calgary, Alberta after a long, hard journey from Boston, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary O’Fallon never imagined that she could lose her heart so easily—or so completely. Standing over six feet tall, with “eyes so blue you could swim in them,” Mike Flannigan is a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police—and a man of great courage, kindness, and humor. Together, he and his beloved Kathy manage to live a good, honest life in this harsh, unforgiving land—and find strength in a love as beautiful and compelling as the wilderness around them.…
My thoughts:
Mrs. Mike is my favorite kind of romance. The wedding takes place very soon after the beginning of the story (and isn’t shown at all!). The rest of the book is about how Katherine learned to live in and love the Far North, and all the people she grew to love there. This book is full of violence and death (see the warnings), but it is a beautiful story. Don’t let all the mentions of blood and gore turn you off.
I don’t know whether Benedict and or Nancy Freedman ever lived in Canada’s Far North, but they have certainly described it so vividly that I felt like I was there. This is a very hard place to live, but Katherine found a lot of beauty there at the same time. And, she found true love. Most of the book takes place while she is between the ages of 16 and 20. I find it hard to imagine a young woman her age going through so many hard experiences, but I love the ending. I was also glad to read the note at the very end that she was a real person.
WARNING: Chapter 1: Dead cows and steers, I’ll be damned, man frozen to death, thousands of cattle drowned. Chapter 2: Drunken man, to hell with her, to hell with him, to hell with you, you son of—, goddamn, bastard. Chapter 4: A Man takes a girl from another man, fight between them. Chapter 5: God damn me, fights over women. Chapter 6: Heck, story of horses being burned to death, son of a gun, where the hell, man hurts woman, story of the death of a baby. Chapter 7: Holy Saint Patrick. Chapter 9: Holy Saint Patrick, you damn fool. Chapter 11: Damn, damn river twice, damn klooch, people burnt to death. Chapter 12: Woman in labor and giving birth. Chapter 13: Nearly an entire family died, babies died, God you should have seen him, man killed by bear. Chapter 16: That damn lie, damn close, good God, animals eating people alive, man beating up another man, Damn, man threatens murder. Chapter 17: abortion, infanticide. Chapter 18: A badly injured man has his leg cut off. Chapter 19: Damn twice, a man murdered, a woman in labor, what the hell, a woman talks about having an abortion, killing a man. Chapter 21: Talk about tearing a live dog to pieces. Chapter 22. Damn, I’ll be damned, Holy Saint Patrick, damn, my God, Holy Mother of God. Chapter 23: That damn pile, baby dies. Chapter 24: Children die, man and dog die. Chapter 25: Where in hell, that damn bear, goddammit.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged) | Audio CD
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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