Product Description

Swedish immigrant Inga Linberg, a pastor’s daughter agrees to a marriage of convenience in hope of finding real love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #628965 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780310288077
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:
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From Library Journal
In 1897, pastor's daughter Inga Linberg joins the ranks of Swedish immigrants traveling to Iowa for a new life. Inga's plans to live at home and care for her parents change suddenly when dairy farmer Dirk Bridger comes to the pastor's house looking for assistance in caring for his two nieces and his ailing mother. Dirk plans to sell the farm eventually so that he can travel the world and chafes at the ties holding him to the farm. As Inga brings light, love, and the Lord to the Bridger family, Dirk fights his growing feelings for her, refusing to add one more tie to hold him down. The sudden, but not unexpected, death of his mother forces Dirk to change his mind. Hatcher continues the shift of her "Coming to America" trilogy from the secular market to the Christian one, offering her RITA Award-winning style to a new audience. Fans of immigrant fiction where the characters face tests of faith in a new country, such as some of Gilbert Morris's "House of Winslow" series and his new title, Jacob's Way (reviewed below), will enjoy this.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Inga Linberg isn't like her sisters. She isn't pretty or flirtatious, she wouldn't know how to catch a man if she tried. But she has a good heart and she's a hard worker. Inga is happy to help when farmer Dirk Bridger comes to Inga's father looking for someone to watch after his nieces and his ailing mother. What Inga doesn't count on is losing her heart to Dirk- and wondering exactly how a woman goes about attracting a man. There was a time when Dirk had dreams. Dreams of traveling the globe in search of adventure. Dreams that would take him far from the bitter cold and never ending monotony of farm life in Uppsala, Iowa. But then his brother died, leaving him to take care of his two young nieces and a farm. Now his mother is ill and the doctor isn't sure how much longer she will live. Dirk's dreams have dried up and in their place is desperation. Can a tall, willowy Swedish immigrant erase the bitterness in his heart and give him something new to dream about? In Robin Lee Hatcher's Coming to America series, the author draws from her own heritage to tell the stories of three women looking for a new life in America. Inga's story is a heartwarming tale of a girl who has always been a little different. Ms. Hatcher pens a delightful story of how Inga finds love and a family of her own. Look for the third book in the series, In His Arms, which tells the story of Irish immigrant Mary Emeline Malone, on the shelves in September. Robin Lee Hatcher is an outstanding example of romantic fiction at its best! She tells the stories readers love! Time and again, Ms. Hatcher blends history and romance into delicious confections for our pleasure! Robin Lee Hatcher's writing shines in her Coming to America series! A lovely trilogy! Kristina Wright -- Copyright © 1998 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved -- From Literary Times

From the Back Cover
My dear Beth, Though Uppsala, Iowa, takes its name from a city in my native Sweden, life here is different from what I have known. I have taken employment in the home of Mr. Bridger, a dairy farmer, caring for his ill mother and two young, orphaned nieces. It is most unlike me to leave home, even in a temporary manner. But the need is great and Hattie Bridger and the children are so endearing. As for Dirk Bridger, he is an unhappy man, but also loyal, hardworking, honorable, and handsome. My younger sisters were smitten the instant they saw him. Young flirts! And with beauty to match. I, on the other hand, am considered to have common sense to attend my common looks. But, friend Beth, I am afraid my heart betrays my wisdom—I, too, long to be seen as beautiful. Not just by anyone. By Dirk Bridger. Your Friend, Inga Linberg In rural Iowa, life is both the planter and uprooter of dreams. As love, long delayed, springs to life in the heart of a young Swedish immigrant, one man struggles with his withered ambitions—and new blessings that could take their place if he would but allow them room. Patterns of Love is Book Two in the Coming to America Series about women who come to America to start new lives. Set in the late 1800s and early 1900s, these novels by bestselling author Robin Lee Hatcher craft intense chemistry and conflict between the characters, lit by a glowing faith and humanity that will win your heart.

Customer Reviews

Touching story, great read
PATTERNS OF LOVE is book two in Robin Hatcher's Coming to America series. The 2001 revision of the 1999 RITA Award book portrays the life of Swedish immigrant Inga Linberg and Dirk Bridger, an Iowa dairy farmer, with the added insight of their spiritual journey with God.

Because of his strong sense of responsibility, Dirk Bridger has abandoned his dreams of world travel and adventure to settle in Uppsala, Iowa, as the guardian of his two orphaned nieces and his deceased brother's dairy farm. Pragmatically, he struggles with despair over his lost dream and the monotonousness of life on the farm. Dirk's sure God if He even exists, has abandoned him.

Inga, the oldest daughter of a Lutheran minister, is resigned to God's plan for her life as quilt artist and capable assistant in her father's ministry. Unlike her four sisters, Inga is neither attractive nor flirtatious and completely content until Dirk arrives at the parsonage to ask her father's help in finding someone to assist him in caring for the two children and his ailing mother. Inga agrees to become his live-in housekeeper and quickly brings order and love to the Bridger household. Personally, she grows discontent with her life. As time goes by, Dirk finds himself attracted to the tall, willowy Swedish immigrant that his mom and nieces have come to love. When Dirk's mother dies, proprietary morals of the period prohibit Inga from continuing in her role as live-in housekeeper. Dirk offers Inga a marriage contract to be terminated when his nieces are older. When Inga agrees, their lives are forever changed.

Robin Hatcher skillfully weaves a tender romance between Inga and Dirk while portraying their spiritual struggles in an unobtrusive, believable way. Her historical and cultural accuracy blends an engaging story line with Swedish heritage in an authentic narrative of life in 19th century America.

Through Inga's correspondence with her friends from the voyage to America sprinkled throughout the story, the reader sees glimpses of the main characters from the other books in the Coming to America series. After reading about Dirk and Inga, I'm sure you'll want to read their stories too!

Beautiful Americana
In 1897 Iowa, dairy farmer Dirk Bridger, though not a church-going individual, visits the home of Reverend Linberg to ask the pious father of five daughters to help him. Dirk's mother is ill and needs rest to recover. This leaves Dirk in a lurch because someone must care for his small orphaned nieces while his mother heals. Dirk explains that he does not have a lot of money to pay the volunteer any sizable sum. The Reverend's plain, oldest daughter Inga volunteers to care for the children.

At the farm, Inga quickly falls in love with the two cute little girls and Dirk. However, though no one perceives it, Dirk hates his present responsible life. He had never planned to be a farmer. He took over the family homestead when his older brother and sister-in-law died so that his mother and nieces could have a home. Inga is the first person to perceive that Dirk resents being a farmer. She tries to show him that he can still be responsible for everyone and have his dreams fulfilled too. She begins to turn the house around and all the occupants, except Dirk, quickly fall in love with her. Eventually, even Dirk begins to find himself attracted to the young lady. Now if he can handle a wee bit more responsibility, he may find that she will actually reduce his workload and add happiness into his life.

The underlying pattern to a Robin Lee Hatcher historical romance is that they are all great. Her second tale in her "Coming to America" series, PATTERNS OF LOVE is a fabulous Americana romance that has two charming lead characters, an intriguing story line, and a fantastic supporting cast (including a stupendous secondary romance that could have been a novel of its own). The trick of correspondence between the female protagonists from the various novels in this series adds a brilliantly designed link that allows readers a glimpse at the other lead female characters. This is one series that deserves five thumbs up.

Harriet Klausner

RITA Winner gets better!!!
This book was originally published in 1998 in mass market size. It won the 1999 RITA Award, which was well deserved. The book is warm, like a cozy quilt, and the characters are real, quickly becoming your friends. The author revised her work for this new trade sized edition, and it was well worth the trouble. This new version truly shines.