No Ocean Too Wide by Carrie Turansky

No Ocean Too Wide by Carrie Turansky ISBN-13: 9780525652939 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Multnomah Books Released: June 25, 2019

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
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”.


My Review:
No Ocean Too Wide is a romance set in 1908 in England and Canada. This is the first novel in a series, and it appears that this family's story will continue throughout the series as the family was not completely reunited by the end of this book. Historical details about the immigration of British orphans to Canada were the focus of the story as Andrew and his boss were carefully investigating the system. I cared about what happened to the characters and liked them. However, everything that could go wrong did go wrong...repeatedly. I started to dread picking up the book because I knew something even worse was going to happen to these nice people.

I was baffled by some things in the story, though. Katie saw the people that took her sister, Grace, and knew where they were at when it happened, but she later said that she had no idea where Grace was or how to find her. Also, by the end, it's like the insurmountable issues standing between Andrew's and Laura's romance never existed.

I believe this was meant to be Christian fiction, but the story seemed to show a God that did not care about the orphan and the widow. The presumably Christian people running the orphan homes were harsh, judgmental, and exploited the children. Worse, when Laura lied and later stole something, it turned out to be a good thing that she did. Every time she did the right thing, it seemed like she encountered obstacles because she had done so. Basically, the story seemed more depressing than uplifting. There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.