Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Until We Reach Home
    Until We Reach Home
    Until We Reach Home
    Audiobook16 hours

    Until We Reach Home

    Written by Lynn Austin

    Narrated by Ruth Ann Phimister

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Library Journal Top Pick author Lynn Austin has garnered an unprecedented number of Christy Awards for brilliantly crafted historical gems, including A Proper Pursuit. In this sweeping saga, three Swedish sisters endure an 1890s Atlantic crossing, an Ellis Island detention, and various other trials as they struggle to find love, faith, and home. First came their mother's death. Then their father's suicide. For orphans Elin, Kirsten, and Sofia, life stretches on like an endless winter. When circumstances become unbearable, they write their Chicago relatives, desperate for a safe haven. Soon the three find themselves among the huddled masses bound for America-the promised land of dreams and second chances. Yet amidst the hardships of their journey, these brave young ladies determine to let nothing stop them from reaching a place they can call home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 11, 2009
    ISBN9781436185493

    More audiobooks from Lynn Austin

    Related to Until We Reach Home

    Related audiobooks

    Christian Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Bees Are Coming

      Aug 4, 2022

      The Bees Are Coming
      7 min read

    • Article

      Out of THE BLUE

      Aug 22, 2023

      Out of THE BLUE
      11 min read

    • Article

      Out Of The Blue

      Aug 24, 2021

      Out Of The Blue
      11 min read

    • Article

      MOVING On

      Apr 26, 2023

      MOVING On
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Christmas GETAWAY

      Nov 22, 2023

      The Christmas GETAWAY
      9 min read

    • Article

      The stolen HEART

      May 24, 2023

      The stolen HEART
      9 min read

    • Article

      The heartbeat OF PARIS

      Apr 3, 2024

      The heartbeat OF PARIS
      9 min read

    • Article

      The New Girlfriend

      Jul 7, 2022

      The New Girlfriend
      4 min read

    • Article

      Tilly’s Lost Girls

      Sep 28, 2020

      Eeh, Ma, this Blackpool wind would blow you to kingdom come if you gave it half a chance.” Tilly looked up from where she sat next to the counter of her basketwear shop, weaving the last strands of the project she was working on. She smiled as she sa

      6 min read

    • Article

      Purr-fect reunion

      Jan 27, 2022

      Purr-fect reunion
      2 min read

    • Article

      Plan of ACTION

      Oct 3, 2023

      Plan of ACTION
      6 min read

    • Article

      Echoes

      Jul 13, 2022

      Echoes
      9 min read

    • Article

      Anything for Alice

      Apr 15, 2021

      Anything for Alice
      3 min read

    • Article

      Someone help Me!

      Sep 7, 2023

      Someone help Me!
      6 min read

    • Article

      SHEAR Embarrassment

      Nov 26, 2020

      SHEAR Embarrassment
      2 min read

    • Article

      Planof Action

      Oct 5, 2021

      Planof Action
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fool’s Gold

      Mar 1, 2021

      Fool’s Gold
      13 min read

    • Article

      Failure to Thrive

      Dec 15, 2019

      Alice read John Mark’s letter, her eyes narrowed, as I paced our tiny apartment. The envelope contained instructions for retrieving two sets of human remains from the University of Florida. I sometimes worked for John Mark, the director of the Milwau

      20 min read

    • Article

      The Christmas GETAWAY

      Nov 29, 2023

      The Christmas GETAWAY
      9 min read

    • Article

      A New Year List

      Dec 21, 2021

      A New Year List
      7 min read

    • Article

      Funny GIRL

      Dec 24, 2019

      Becca Gow, 32, from Belfast As my phone pinged with a Snapchat photo, I knew who it was before I even opened the message. Lisa – my silly sis! She was 32-going-on-12, always having me in fits of giggles sending me goofy faces, with her eyes crosse

      3 min read

    • Article

      READER Q&A

      May 29, 2022

      READER Q&A
      1 min read

    • Article

      Angel WINGS

      Dec 24, 2019

      Angel WINGS
      2 min read

    • Article

      A New Year LIST

      Dec 28, 2023

      A New Year LIST
      6 min read

    • Article

      Every CLOUD

      Aug 31, 2022

      Every CLOUD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Danger

      May 18, 2022

      Stranger Danger
      10 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Danger

      May 18, 2022

      Stranger Danger
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Until We Reach Home

    4/5

    117 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is a beautiful story
      However, the narrator's voice is too old for the young characters.
    • 2/5
      Three Swedish girls make it through Ellis Island in 1897. This is the one with Sofia Carlson and Ludwig Schneider communicating via Bible verses in two languages.
    • 4/5
      Life in Sweden becomes unbearable and unsafe for Elin Carlson after the deaths of her parents. So she determines to find a safe haven for her sisters, Kirsten and Sofia, and herself. So begins a journey to America for these three Swedish young ladies. Here they believe they will be given a second chance. But the journey to America is hard and all 3 sisters struggle with secrets they aren't sharing with each other.Hardship becomes their constant companion as they arrive in America, and Elin, Kirsten, and Sofia question their decision to immigrate to Chicago. Will their hopes for the future ever be realized? I liked how the author showed three very different young ladies who loved each other and stood by each other. The struggles seemed very real, but the blessings for each of them at the end were very precious. It was a hard story to read at first, but the love and courage of these 3 sisters kept me going and realizing the hardships the people faced who were coming to America made me appreciate my ancestors all that much more.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful story.
    • 5/5
      My 1st Lynn Austin book. I literally couldn't put it down..I read it all day Saturday and I was left wanting more. This book could easily have been another 200 pages long.
      There was so many unanswered questions left that kind of left me empty. I assume that everything works out as the author layed out.
      I would like to read another of her books but I am not sure which one to pick up next.
      This one was incredible and left me wanting more !
    • 4/5
      Where I got the book: my local libraryElin knows that she has to get her sisters away from their farm in Sweden before they also fall prey to her uncle Sven. Finding a new home for three orphaned women in 1897 isn't an easy task, but Elin believes an uncle in America may help them to start a new life. She has to overcome her sisters' own resistance and the hardships of emigration to reach a promised land that turns out not to be what they expected.I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading this novel. Its unpretentious writing and straightforward narrative occasionally made me feel that I was reading a YA book, but this suited a story about three young, relatively uneducated women. The spiritual themes did not emerge straightaway, which I appreciated; most inspirational authors seem compelled to drop a "God bomb" into the first chapter to establish their Christian credentials, but Austin holds back until we're familiar with the three women and understand their inner struggles.There is a strong theme of the vulnerability of "unprotected" women (very true in the society of the 1800s, of course) and I was worried at times that the only solution would be the strong arms of a man. Thankfully, the male characters displayed many vulnerabilities of their own, and in the end the most dominant characters in this book were the secondary female ones. The solutions to the protagonists' dilemmas were slightly farfetched, but satisfying.The Swedish settings were fascinating, and made me want to know more about Chicago's Swedish community, which I've only experienced very briefly in the neighborhood of North Park college (mentioned in the book). The details about Ellis Island were quite illuminating, and the depiction of life aboard an immigrant ship kept me interested. All in all, an enjoyable historical-inspirational-romance read.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of three orphaned Swedish sisters who immigrate to America through Ellis Island, eventually to Chicago. I would categorize the writing style of this book as being young adult -- on about a sixth or seventh grade reading level. However, there are scenes that make you certain that this book was not intended for an audience that young. There is a lot of action that really doesn't build anything and just draws the plot out for more pages. This 428 page could have easily been edited to a book of no more than 270 pages and still achieved its desired outcome. It was so obvious each time you met a character what would happen later in the novel. In spite of all the novel's faults, I did eventually become engaged in the story line of the novel although I could already predict the outcome. Although I'm a Christian, I really don't read a lot of Christian fiction (although I did at one time). The main reason is because most Christian publishers need to pay more attention to editorial processes and quality writing. I read this novel because I'll be attending a conference in a couple of weeks where this author will be one of the keynote speakers. If you can overlook the writing, the story is somewhat interesting.
    • 4/5
      the book was enjoyable, but the development of the plot lines tended to drag - to the point that some of the character developments seemed almost impossible. For example, just how long can one pregnancy last without anyone noticing? But Austin did succeed in developing some interesting characters - and she needed that time to do so - and I found myself genuinely caring about what was going to happen to them.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the book but it did move slowly and was predictable.
    • 5/5
      I was so excited to get this book to read because I love Lynn Austin's writing. Once again, she does not disappoint! Reading about the experiences of the Carlson sisters teaches what real family love and loyalty looks like; it comes with disagreements and squabbles along with displays of affection. It's also interesting to see these young ladies search as individuals to understand, find, and experience God's love.The characters are flawed; the reader quickly connects with them. They are three orphaned teenage girls with a fierce family bond. Each one has a secret that motivates her. The story moves along as each young lady wrestles with her worries and problems.The setting is 1897 in Sweden, then Chicago, and finally home. The reader understands life for an immigrant as these young girls land on Ellis Island and struggle to adapt to the strange new land. I give this one a big thumbs up; this is indeed a good read.