A Wild and Heavenly Place by Robin Oliveira
I couldn’t put this book down. Wonderfully written, Robin Oliveira immerses her readers in a compelling story of two Scottish families the McIntyre’s and Fiddes’ who couldn’t be farther apart in social class. Destined to come together, they soon realize they need each other in their struggle for survival in a harsh and unfamiliar new world.
Through her vivid descriptions of place and time, Oliveira takes readers on her characters’ arduous journey across oceans and continents from the McIntyre’s elite class of Glasgow, Scotland and the Fiddes’ Scottish slums to the early and muddy crude shores of Seattle. Life is far from kind to these newcomers. Steeped in a life of poverty, one family longs for their lost wealth while the other longs to capture stability and a lost love. Food is scarce, and housing is far from the luxury of Scotland’s manor homes. Tragedies of their past continue to haunt them. Decisions made in haste change lives forever.
But do they have what it takes to survive in this new land?
Ms. Oliveira adeptly weaves a story showing us that true love knows no boundaries of old-world social classes. Within the pages of this book, the author reminds us that wealth and societal standing can be ripped away in a heartbeat, but in the end, hard work and faith in oneself can lead to unimaginable and once unattainable riches.
Having lived most of my life in Seattle, this book is a tribute to Seattle’s early settlers. Their struggles and perseverance. While reading, I envisioned old Seattle and the places Oliveira describes so well that still exist today.
I highly recommend reading this book.
