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    You Belong Here Now: A Novel
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    You Belong Here Now: A Novel
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    You Belong Here Now: A Novel
    Ebook347 pages5 hours

    You Belong Here Now: A Novel

    By Dianna Rostad

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “It’s so hard to believe that this is a debut novel! It’s an historic novel. Talk about hitting me on so many good points.” –John Busbee, The Culture Buzz, weekly on www.KFMG.org

    “Set against the harsh backdrop of Montana, You Belong Here Now is a novel as straightforward and powerful as the characters who populate it. I love this book, and I guarantee you won’t find a finer debut work anywhere.” — William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land

    “You Belong Here Now distills the essence of the American spirit in this uplifting story. Perfect for book clubs looking to discuss the true meaning of family.” — Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of The Kitchen House

    In this brilliant debut reminiscent of William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land and Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours, three orphans journey westward from New York City to the Big Sky Country of Montana, hoping for a better life where beautiful wild horses roam free.

    Montana 1925: Three brave kids from New York board the orphan train headed west. An Irish boy who lost his whole family to Spanish flu, a tiny girl who won’t talk, and a volatile young man who desperately needs to escape Hell’s Kitchen. They are paraded on platforms across the Midwest to work-worn folks and journey countless miles, racing the sun westward. Before they reach the last rejection and stop, the kids come up with a daring plan, and they set off toward the Yellowstone River and grassy mountains where the wild horses roam.

    Fate guides them toward the ranch of a family stricken by loss. Broken and unable to outrun their pasts in New York, the family must do the unthinkable in order to save them. 

    Nara, the daughter of a successful cattleman, has grown into a brusque spinster who refuses the kids on sight. She’s worked hard to gain her father’s respect and hopes to run their operation, but if the kids stay, she’ll be stuck in the kitchen.

    Nara works them without mercy, hoping they’ll run off, but they buck up and show spirit, and though Nara will never be motherly, she begins to take to them. So, when Charles is jailed for freeing wild horses that were rounded up for slaughter, and an abusive mother from New York shows up to take the youngest, Nara does the unthinkable, risking everything she holds dear to change their lives forever.

    “From the moment the reader steps on the train with these orphaned children, You Belong Here Now shows how beauty can emerge from even the darkest places.” —Erika Robuck, national bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl

    “Rostad’s bighearted debut is full of surprises, and warm with wisdom about what it means to be family.” —Meg Waite Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Train to London

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 6, 2021
    ISBN9780063027909
    Author

    Dianna Rostad

    Dianna Rostad was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Her parents and extended family come from the ranches of Montana and the farms of Arkansas. Dianna raised three kind, human beings, and when they began to test their wings, she took to writing with a passion, completing Southern Methodist University Writer’s Path program in 2009. A favorite task of her creative endeavors is the discovery and research of people and places where her novels are set. She has traveled extensively to pursue the last artifacts of our shared history and breathe life, truth, and hope into her novels. Now living in Florida, Dianna continues to write big-hearted novels for wide audiences everywhere. 

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    Reviews for You Belong Here Now

    3.5/5

    57 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      An ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Have the tissues handy for the latter part of the book. Charles, Patrick and Opal are the last kids on the Orphan Train from NYC heading west. Unrelated, they band together and jump the train before the last stop, because if they are not chosen, they will be sent back. Charles breaks into a barn, intending to steal a horse because younger Opal and Patrick can't walk any farther, but is caught by Nara. When she lets him stay to work for R&B, he gathers up his "siblings" to live with the Stewarts. Lot in family dynamics with the Stewarts, hardships of Montana in 1925, and the 3 unrelated kids becoming true siblings and finding a forever home.
    • 4/5
      You Belong Here Now is the story of 3 orphans who find themselves on a cattle ranch in Montana in the 1920s. It's the story of family coming together in spite of their differences, growing and learning how to be part of something larger, and healing from past wounds. It's a beautifully told story with vivid descriptions and ambitious characters. Full of rich historical insight and a clear love for the ranges of Montana.
    • 4/5
      Three children, Charles, Patrick, and Opal, were the only three children that were not picked for adoption from an orphan train and jumped off rather than be taken back to New York. Luckily, they were found by the Stewart family who were fair, hardworking people. It’s hard to imagine how many children were shipped out west on these trains to face a very uncertain future. And 1925 Montana was a harsh place where people worked sunup to sundown just to survive. I found this novel slow in places, but overall I enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      I had the hardest time focusing on this book. The writing just didn't flow very well and seemed choppy at times. I liked reading about life on a Montana ranch and felt that those descriptions were good and accurate. The rest of the story wasn't as believable. Nara, one of the main characters, was a character I never got comfortable with. In fact, this was one of those books where I really didn't care much what happened to the characters, except the little girl Opal. I am still not sure how she managed to get out of one particular situation, however. *I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing.*
    • 3/5
      2.5 stars. I had a hard time with this book - I really wanted to like it more. But I really couldn't connect with the story or characters. It had a good message and was touching but nothing about it really stands out for me. I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing.
    • 4/5
      I have always had a fascination with the orphan trains. This book drew me right into the story of these young people who pinned their hopes on finding a new life in the west. This one was different than other books I have read in that they jumped off the orphan train rather than face the possibility that they may be sent back to where they came from. They find work on a Montana ranch and hope that they have found a place that they will truly belong.Dianna Rostad has done a great job with her first book. I was engaged and interested in the characters from the first page. I liked the story and the writing. The cover is beautiful and was what caught my eye even before learning what the book was about.My thanks to Library Thing Early Reviewers and William Morrow for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my unbiased opinion of it.
    • 3/5
      In 1925, three children ride an orphan train from New York to Montana, hoping to be adopted along the way. As they grow closer to their final destination, and being passed over at each station, they decide to jump off the train and try to make it on their own. This could have been an excellent story if the concentration had been solely on the orphan children, what led up to their placement on the orphan train, their feelings of being picked apart and not being chosen, and their survival once they decided to leave the train. In my opinion, there were too many unnecessary plot lines that went nowhere. I did, however, enjoy learning about life on a Montana ranch during that time.
    • 3/5
      Dianna Rostad details the life in Montana in 1925. The orphan train that left New York and headed west to give orphans in New York a chance at a different life. Dianna Rostad briefly addresses the plight of these orphans as western farmers looked for strong and healthy farm laborers. Many books have detailed the orphan trains and the horrid life the orphans entered. Rostad bases her story on three children who jump the train before the last stop. These children from diverse backgrounds bond together and enter a farm and learn about life. Charles an eighteen-year-old running from the law and pretending to be sixteen protects Patrick, a small Irish lad, and Opal a tiny girl covered with burned skin. Rostad deftly describes farm life and the dependence on neighboring farmers. The tale about killing the mustangs due to a lack of grassland perplexed me. So many stories of hardship in Montana surprised me, such as the viciousness of wolves. An interesting story, but not enough detail.
    • 3/5
      This was an ok read, it did keep my attention, and the plight of the children was interesting. I liked the Montana setting.
    • 2/5
      Did not finish. The premise was interesting and the sense of place was good, but the writing mechanics were poor and the characters mostly uninteresting.
    • 4/5

      YOU BELONG HERE NOW is a touching historical drama about survival, acceptance, and creating a family beyond blood. Set in Montana in the 1920s, the story follows the last three children from an orphan train who jump off to find work and possibly a new home on a cattle ranch. The family that they find are struggling with their own grief and loss.

      I enjoyed this absorbing tale that brings to light the perilous lives of orphans at the time, as well as the bigotry faced by Irish immigrants and indigenous people. What a terrifying prospect it must have been to be sent west into the unknown, as you could only hope that you're taken in by decent people. The writing was a bit melodramatic at times, but overall this coming of age novel is enjoyable and uplifting.

      Thank you to the publisher and LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program for an opportunity to read this book. Thoughts are my own.

    • 1/5
      Sorry. The book descriptionfor YOU BELONG HERE NOW sounded very intriguing. And I loved the bestseller, THE ORPHAN TRAIN. But twenty pages of this awful, awkward, purple prose was enough for me. Doesn't William Morrow have any readers or discerning editors anymore? Sorry. Nope. Not recommended.