With a Joyful Noise: No Ocean Too Wide

After reading several mysteries and suspense, I enjoyed this little genre break. Because of the aforementioned books, it seemed that this one started off slow, but once I got into it, I really didn’t want to put it down—and then when I finally finished it, I still wanted to be reading it the next few days. I am definitely looking forward to book two!

This is one of those sweet historical fictions. Being that I’ve done a bit of research into the American “Orphan Train,” I was very interested in the British side of displacing street orphans. I thought Turansky did a very fluent job of portraying an angle from orphans who were definitely going to something better as well as mistaken orphans and the legal side of things. I can honestly say that I enjoyed this story from every character’s point of view. Andrew was probably my favorite character, though I did like the sisters, Kate and Laura, as well.

Though there is romance in it, it is more about a family than about a love interest. I found it to be fairly chaste in its portrayal of relationships. There is one orphan situation that mentions a girl who was taken advantage of. While it is not expounded (and it’s not part of the storyline—it is just a side character), Laura thinks about it several times afterwards. That would be the only part that keeps me from handing it to my younger teen sisters.

The spiritual thread is thoroughly woven through the book—there isn’t just the main climax in which the characters turn to God, but rather, they are very often seeking Him and trying to follow Him. I appreciated that. There is one character who is portrayed as a strong Christian character that the MC’s look up to, and I found that to be a very nice touch.

This is definitely a book I enjoyed and can recommend without any qualms.

*I received this book from WaterBrook & Multnomah and happily provided my honest review*

About No Ocean Too Wide

Between the years of 1869 to 1939 more than 100,000 poor British children were sent across the ocean to Canada with the promise of a better life. Those who took them in to work as farm laborers or household servants were told they were orphans--but was that the truth?

After the tragic loss of their father, the McAlister family is living at the edge of the poorhouse in London in 1908, leaving their mother to scrape by for her three younger children, while oldest daughter, Laura, works on a large estate more than an hour away. When Edna McAlister falls gravely ill and is hospitalized, twins Katie and Garth and eight-year-old Grace are forced into an orphans' home before Laura is notified about her family's unfortunate turn of events in London. With hundreds of British children sent on ships to Canada, whether truly orphans or not, Laura knows she must act quickly. But finding her siblings and taking care of her family may cost her everything.

Andrew Fraser, a wealthy young British lawyer and heir to the estate where Laura is in service, discovers that this common practice of finding new homes for penniless children might not be all that it seems. Together Laura and Andrew form an unlikely partnership. Will they arrive in time? Will their friendship blossom into something more?

Inspired by true events, this moving novel follows Laura as she seeks to reunite her family and her siblings who, in their darkest hours, must cling to the words from Isaiah: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God".

Purchase here.