The Brightest of Dreams

"Quinten Aspinall is determined to fulfill a promise he made to his deceased father to keep his family together. To do so, he must travel to Canada to find his younger siblings, who were sent there as indentured workers while Quinn was away at war. He is also solicited by his employer to look for the man's niece who ran off with a Canadian soldier. If Quinn can bring Julia back, he will receive his own tenant farm, enabling him to provide a home for his ailing mother and siblings. Julia Holloway's decision to come to Toronto has been met with disaster. When her uncle's employee rescues her from a bad situation, she fears she can never repay Quinn's kindness. So when he asks her to help find his sister, she agrees. Soon after, however, Julia receives some devastating news that changes everything. Torn between reuniting his family and protecting Julia, will Quinn have to sacrifice his chance at happiness to finally keep his promise?"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member alekee

This is the third book in this series that I have read and enjoyed, saying that I do feel that you could read this one by its self, but the others as equally good!
This story is fiction, as the author’s notes states, but it is based on fact, and it happened to so many families. This time the

author focusses on a family with three sons and one daughter, while the older son is fighting in the great war, the family falls on hard times and put into an orphanage in England, only to completely lose the children to Canada.
We are given a desperate young man searching for his sister and two younger brothers, but also looking for his employer’s niece! What a journey we embark on and all the while you wonder if he will find his family in time. What of the niece, well that is another story, one that could almost be another book.
A beautiful job the author does of wrapping up this series, and give closure to all the characters we are or have been caring about!

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Bethany House, and was not required to give a positive review.

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LibraryThing member SBMC

Ah, such a sweet conclusion to The Canadian Crossings series. Susan Anne Mason writes another fluidly moving story filled with hope, love, romance, and faith. This is book 3 in the series but can be read as a stand-alone; the three books are not sequential but simultaneous in timeline.

I really

enjoyed getting to know Julia and Quinn. Julia is a strong but broken woman, trying her best to survive even when her circumstances are terrible. Quinn is a determined, loyal, and tender man who crosses the ocean to Canada to find his siblings who were sent over from England as indentured servants during WWI. The mistreatment and abuse of those children sent to Canada are real and heart-breaking, the love of Quinn for his younger siblings powerful and heart-warming. Some gentle twists and turns in the plot heighten the emotion in the second half of the book.

If you like historical romance, you will love this book and the entire series. I received a copy of the book from Bethany House Publishers and was under no obligation to post a positive review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.

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LibraryThing member Kris_Anderson

The Brightest of Dreams by Susan Anne Mason is the third novel in the Canadian Crossings series. It can be read as a standalone if you have not read the other two Canadian Crossings novels. If you have read Best of Intentions and Highest of Hopes, you will be delighted with this final story. Grace

and Emmaline are in included, so we get to find out how they are faring. I thought The Brightest of Dreams was well-written with developed characters. I can tell the author did her research for this novel. It is heartbreaking that hundreds of children were sent to Canada as indentured servants. The working conditions for some of them were intolerable as we see in this story. Quinn Aspinsall is searching for his two brothers and sister in Canada so he can return them to England. He hopes that when his mother sees all her children once again, she will begin to recover. The Brightest of Dreams is an emotional story that captures the time period beautifully. Christianity is woven into the story making it an integral part. The characters pray to God for help on their journeys and with their lives. Quinn and Julia become a part of a charming church community that includes Mrs. Chamberlain and Reverend Burke. My favorite phrase from The Brightest of Dreams is, “God’s timing was always perfect.” It is can be hard to turn our worries over to Him and leave them in His hands. The romance plays out sweetly and slowly which suits the time period and the story. The Brightest of Dreams allows us to glimpse into the past in this multifaceted novel. I especially appreciated the epilogue. The Brightest of Dreams is a story that draws you in and holds you until you finish the very last page.

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LibraryThing member lamb521

Title: The Brightest of Dreams (Canadian Crossings #3)
Author: Susan Anne Mason
Pages: e-book
Year: 2020
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.
Quinten Aspinall returns from fighting the Seven Years War to find his mother in the workhouse infirmary and close to death. His

father had died shortly before Quinten left home seeking work. He sent his pay home to his mother and thought it would be enough to keep herself and his siblings in their home. He quickly finds out his mother used the money for liquor instead of food and was forced to go to work. She didn’t have enough money to support her three children, so she took them to an orphanage temporarily until she could get back on her feet financially. However, the orphanage sent the children to Canada as indentured servants! Quinten will do whatever it takes to bring his siblings home to England, but after five years and few leads how is he going to find them in a foreign country? His former employer also has given him the task of finding his wayward niece, who has also traveled to Canada. Quinten will receive land and a house if he can find her and bring her back. His family would be set for life then, so Quinten accepts the additional challenge.
Julia Holloway traveled to Canada as a caretaker for a wounded soldier. He unexpectedly commits suicide, leaving Julie distraught and vulnerable to his manipulative doctor who takes advantage of her to act on his own desires. Julia must find another job to support herself and is scrubbing floors in a hospital when Quinten stumbles across her. She agrees to help him in his search for his siblings in exchange for him paying her rent. She has no intention of returning to England, and he has no intention of staying in Canada.
Quinten and Julie both have a stubborn streak but also put the care of others before themselves. In England, the differences of class were strictly adhered to. In Canada, the class distinctions are more relaxed. I enjoyed the setting of all three novels in this series, and I especially liked Quinten in this story. He put his siblings and Julia’s needs before his own wants and desires, trying his best to do what was right. Readers see the upside and downside to the siblings’ lives as indentured servants and how God honors Quinten’s decisions regarding Julia and the future.
Note: The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility.

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LibraryThing member Virginia51

This has been a fantastic series of historical fiction. I had not read much that takes place in Canada before this and I had definitely not read about England sending children over to Canada. It seems like it was a good idea on paper but there were children that it did not work out for. I loved the

characters of Quinten and Julia. These two came together at the right time in their lives and were able to help each other. This made me laugh and cry. I received a copy of this book from the author and Bethany House for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

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LibraryThing member TCJRogers

In The Brightest of Dreams, Quinten Aspinall returns to England from war to find that his ailing mother, being unable to care for her three youngest children, has sent them to an orphanage. And the orphanage has shipped the children to Canada for “the chance for a better life” as indentured

laborers. Quinn promises his mother he will find his siblings and bring them back, but when he asks his employer, the Earl of Brentwood, for the time off to travel to Canada, the Earl has another mission for him. The Earl’s niece, Julia Holloway, ran away to Canada with a soldier in order to care for him after the war, and he wants Quinn to find Julia and try to convince her to return to England, as well. As an added bonus, Quinn will be rewarded with one of the tenant farms for him and his family if he can bring Julia back. In Canada, Julia is living in poverty as the soldier she was caring for has died. When Quinn finds her, comes to her aid, and offers her protection, she is grateful, but when she learns of the deal made with her uncle, she wonders if Quinn actually cares about her or if he is using her in order to earn the farm. As Quinn struggles to get all the pieces of his life together — finding his siblings, trying to win Julia, striving to get back to England with his brothers and sister in tow in order to keep his promise to his mother, and trying to hold up his end of the deal with the Earl of Brentwood in order to earn the farm and provide a home for his family — he wonders if it’s even possible for him to have all he dreams of.

The Brightest of Dreams is a clean, faith-based story. The story weaves in historical events as it tells about the British Home Children which is a pretty horrible piece of history that I had never heard of before. Although I liked the premise of this story, I personally had a hard time connecting with the characters. I felt that the story dragged and seemed a bit unfocused sometimes. And in some places, I thought the dialogue seemed awkward and didn’t seem to fit the time period. Of course everyone has their own reaction to a story, and as this book has many five star ratings, obviously many others did connect with this story in a way that I just didn’t. But I certainly do appreciate the focus on faith in the story, and I’m glad to have learned a bit of history as well.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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