No Ocean Too Wide: A Novel

No Ocean Too Wide is the first book in The McAlister Family series. I found this historical novel to be compelling. I was drawn into the book and I just wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next to the McAlister family. I thought No Ocean Too Wide was well-written with interesting characters. The author’s research is evident in this story which is based on true events. Laura McAlister has strength, determination, faith and loyalty to her family. I liked that she learned a few life lessons along the way. Katie had a strong faith for a fourteen year old girl. She never failed to pray no matter the circumstances. Katie never lost faith that God would help her. I found No Ocean Too Wide to be an emotional story that will stay with the you long after you finish it. I liked that the romance is not the feature of this book. It plays out gently which suits the characters and their situation. Christianity is a part of the characters lives. They seek Him out and are not afraid to share their belief with others or speak of it aloud. We see in No Ocean Too Wide that God is always with us. We need to have faith and trust in Him. We see that there are two sides to every story as with life. While some people only heard about the good of child emigration, there was a bad side to it as well. I liked the addition of Rose Carson and Henry Dowd. They were great additions to this book. No Ocean Too Wide is a poignant novel that will touch your heart.

This is the most incredible story - one that I am quite sure everyone should read. I would imagine that anyone that enjoys history and all we can learn from it, has heard of the British Home Children (BHC) as well as the Kindertransport during the war. In many ways the same, but also so very different. While the children from war-torn countries were sent away for their safety, the BHC were sent to America to reduce the number of destitute children roaming the streets of London and other places. Unfortunately some of those sent away were from loving families that were temporarily unable to provide for their needs. This is the story of one such family. Garth and Katie, 14 year old twins, were sent to different homes, since boys and girls were not in the same home. Young Grace, 7, was allowed to stay with her sister, Katie. Child emigration was regular at that time - the children were sent to Canada, where they were then put into homes that were prepared to accept a child into their family as well as care for them. The people overseeing those homes didn’t value family connections, so were these siblings likely to ever see each other again? Andrew Frasier and Henry Dowd were given the task of following this emigrant cycle to see if it was all done legally. Were these children all orphans or were some taken from their families without permission? What were the conditions the children were living with in Canada? Answers for these and other questions were what they hoped for. This incredible story has been on my desk, just waiting for me to sit down and read. Published by Multnomah the comments and impressions given are my own and were in no way solicited.

I love a Historical Fiction book where I can learn new facts about history. I have a strong desire to read and learn more about the Orphan Trains here in the US. When I say the content of this novel, I was excited to read it. Carrie did a wonderful job of portraying what life must have been like for the poor in London. They had the same situation that we had here in our big cities with so many homeless children. I found it a little slow or hard to get into at first, but once I did, I was taken away to another place and time. Carrie has a special ability for making a setting come to life. I enjoyed hearing about the McAlister family and will be waiting to hear more about the other siblings. I received a copy of the book from WaterBrook and Multnomah through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.