This Promised Land
This Promised Land
By: Cathy Gohlke
[Fulfilled ‘A book that takes place on a farm’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
This Promised Land is unapologetically inspired by the story of the prodigal son found in Scripture. It is a second-chance family drama set on a Christmas tree farm in the mountains of Virginia in the 90s.
It’s not a son finding his way home, but a nephew and a great aunt looking for belonging and experiencing forgiveness and love once again.
This is probably a great book for readers who enjoy family dramas or fiction novels. It felt a little slow to me because my preferred genre is usually suspense thrillers and mysteries. I can enjoy non-mystery historical fiction when I’m learning things. This one didn’t really have a mystery and the period wasn’t very historical. It was more just a day-to-day happenings and character development type of book.
I didn’t see anything problematic or frustrating with the book; it just isn’t my favorite kind of read.
Here’s a brief summary of the plot.
In the beginning of the book we find that Ginny wanted to marry Curtis, a teenage foster boy whom their family took in. It was right before WWII and Curtis was drafted. Ginny’s mother advised her not to marry until he returned from war. Ginny went against her mother’s wishes and found herself disowned by her family and unwelcome to return to the family farm where she had been promised her inheritance— part of the farm.
She’s 65 years old now, widowed, and newly retired, ready to live her dream in England doing horticultural stuff (she’s a master gardener). But she is informed by letter that her inheritance never fully went to her now deceased brother. The farm is hers.
Ginny returns to a farm on the verge of collapse due to her brother’s poor choices and hostile nephews who thought they would be the ones inheriting the farm.
“She needed to put her demons to rest and move on. She’d stay only as long as required to get things settled about the farm. Maybe in that time she’d find the answers she needed. She couldn’t stay longer. She wouldn’t get sucked into anger and regret like she imagined Harold had.”
The story revolves around the three families (Ginny and her nephews Luke and Mark) and their efforts to come up with the funds to pay back-taxes. There are many obstacles working against them. Through it all they must reconcile their hurts and do what family should do— stick together.
Every character has a development arc.
Ginny is struggling with her conflicting desires to ‘follow her dream’ and be with family. She also sees similarities between Mark’s war PTSD with what she dealt with with Curtis. She feels she failed her husband and wants to try to help Mark in ways she was never able to with Curtis.
Mark has three children as a single dad. His time in Vietnam leading him to drunkenness and his and his ex-wife’s dabbling in drugs all resulted with his kids spending time in foster care. He’s sober now and determined to do what he has to keep his kids.
His kids (Arlo, Marley, and Cooper) have never experienced a stable home or a healthy mother figure. Ginny and Luke’s wife Bethany stand in the gap and offer them love and security and meet their physical needs. If things go awry, the future is uncertain and scary for them. They don’t want to have to leave again.
Luke is the ‘older son.’ He is battling anger with the lies and failures of his father and his responsibility to clean up the mess without the resources and ability to do it on his own. He’s angry at his brother for leaving and being unreliable. He’s angry at Ginny because she ‘took’ his inheritance and is probably going to sell it.
Bethany is stuck between supporting her husband and wanting to be there for the kids. Having no kids of her own, being with the kids is filling up her heart, but Luke doesn’t want her to get too attached to them.
Will is one of the side characters— his father was Ginny’s parents’ lawyer and now he’s the one handling her mother and brother’s estates. But there is some romantic interest between Will and Ginny.
I think Will is probably my favorite character. He is a solid guy that loves helping people. He is generous with his time and resources and he’s really good with troubled kids. He is wise and present and is always saving the day. He was the glue that held everyone together.
So all of these things collide and play off each other over the course of the story as they all realize they need each other.
I guess one thing that I felt was misleading was when at the beginning of the story Ginny confesses that she paid off years of debt “all while keeping her husband’s secret… and hers.”
That was a hook for me. Secrets! What could they be?! But in the end I feel like there really wasn’t a secret. It felt like too big of a hook for the little minnow that comes out of the water.
I did enjoy the Christmas tree farm setting. There is just something magical about it, even when it’s the summertime. I’m glad the story took us into the holiday season and we got to experience some of the anticipation of preparing for Christmas. I think it might have been better if more of the book could have taken place during that time, but the character arcs probably needed all those months to make sense.
Recommendation
I think the heart of this book could be summed up in this quote:
“‘Hurt, fear, grief— all make people do and say things that can come out rough. Being trapped in their hurts and fears keeps folks from seeing the good around them, the good in others.’”
If you want to read a slower story that encompasses this quote and shows how a broken family can be restored, then I think you’ll love this book.
If you are looking for mysteries and fast-paced narratives, this is probably not going to do the trick for you.
It wasn’t my favorite type of book, but sometimes it’s good to slow down every once and awhile.
[Content Advisory: none]
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