Helen is the main character in Fair are the Meadows, installment #3 in the loosely connected Home to Green Creek series. Each installment focuses on a different main character of the immigrant community who has been in the background of previous installments.
Carol’s Captivating Characters of August Link-Up
***This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
On the last Friday of the month, I write a post about my most captivating character of the month and create a Link Party (see link below my review)! In addition to hearing about the memorable characters that have captivated you, I also want this feature to facilitate new bookish friendships, help you find your book twin, and promote blog engagement. This link party will stay active for 30 days. In exchange for linking your post back to this one, I promise to visit every blog post that links up, leave a comment, and share your post once on #bookx and #booksky.
Captivating Character Link Up Details:
- You can use fictional or real characters/persons.
- Link up a review that specifically highlights a captivating character or person, or write a post dedicated to your most captivating character or person of the month.
- Please include a link back to this (monthly) post.
- Be kind: visit one other post in the link-up and leave a comment.
- #CaptivatingCharacters26
No blog? No problem! Share your most captivating character of the month in the comments.
Shoutout to Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog and Laura @ Reading Books Again for linking up with me in July. Check out their posts!
Helen
A woman of faith, a compassionate teacher…
Name of Captivating Character: Helen Stenerson
The reason she is captivating: caring and innovative teacher, kind and supportive friend, a woman of faith, relatable, resilient
Book and Author: Fair are the Meadows by Lauraine Snelling (pub date: 9/15/2026)
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Inspirational Fiction, Frontier Life, Family Secrets, Teaching, Iowa
Mood: Reflective
Content Considerations: secrets from the past
Helen is an immigrant from Norway who has settled in the community of Green Creek, Iowa and works as a teacher in a one-room school. She is respected in the immigrant community and has friends that are like family. In addition, to playing the piano, she teaches English to second-language learners. She has a big heart for students of all ages.
Helen is settled and content with her life, but she is bothered by two things: her growing attraction to Odger Gunderson and news of her aunt’s failing health. Her interest in Odger is troubling because she has experienced a failed engagement in the past and has decided to protect her heart, and her teaching contract forbids a romantic relationship. Yet, the attraction is undeniable. Helen takes a leave from her teaching position to visit her ailing aunt and learns a troubling secret that changes everything she’s always believed about her family. Helen is a woman of faith and turns to God for guidance and comfort.
Helen is a relatable and captivating character, and we want the best for her. She is a responsible, earnest, caring, and kind-hearted young woman who is an encouraging teacher and loving niece. Can her friends who are like family, supportive and understanding Odger, and prayer help her through this difficult time?
Reader who enjoy inspirational reads, a lovely community of people, immigrant stories (Norwegian heritage), frontier stories (those women worked hard!), and sweet romance will want to add Fair are the Meadows to their fall TBRs.
Thanks @NetGalley @BethanyHouseFiction @GreatReadsBookPromo for an eARC of #FairAreTheMeadows upon my request. All opinions are my own.
You might also enjoy At Morning’s Light (installment #2) by the author.
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Meet the Author of Fair are the Meadows, Lauraine Snelling
Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has over eighty books published with more than 4 million copies in print.
Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Inspirational Fiction, the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.
Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress.”
I KNOW you’ve encountered some fascinating and interesting characters this month! Share them with us by linking up your review post!
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Click here to enter!
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