Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers

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Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers

Her Daughter’s Dream is a novel, second in series of Marta’s Legacy.

Hildamara was in a TB sanitarium for recurrences of tuberculosis. Her husband Trip was struggling to work full time and take care of Charlie and Carolyn. After a couple of months Trip suggests calling Hildamara’s Mom, Marta, to see if she could come help. Hildamara did not think her mom cared enough to come.

Oma Marta came and took over the household chores and taking care of the two kids. Hildamara came home to be isolated in her home. Carolyn did not understand why her Mom could not sit at the table during meals with the rest of the family or why she could not go into her Mother’s room. Carolyn drew closer to Oma. Charlie was in school but Carolyn was too young so she went everywhere with Oma.

Her Daughter’s Dream

Carolyn felt like her Mom did not love her but she knew Oma did. After a year Hildamara was improved enough that she could take over the household chores again but Oma did not want to give up what she was doing so after many arguments Oma went back to her home. Carolyn was unhappy. She cried and tried to run after Oma but Trip caught her and swatted her bottom, put her in her bed and told her to stay there. She did and wet the bed but she was frightened of her Dad and Mom. From then on she did everything they told her to with out arguing or questioning.

Hildemara and Trip decided to purchase some land out in the rural area and build them a house. Charlie was excited but not Carolyn. One day Charlie took Carolyn to meet a neighbor man called Dock. He had bee hives and gave them a piece of honey. Trip would tell Carolyn to stay out of the way so she would make mud pies then Hildemara would tell her to stay cleaner and she had nothing to do so would wander over to visit Dock.

Dock molests Carolyn and disappears after making her promise not to tell. Carolyn had nightmares and was afraid to sleep in her room.

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Carolyn was now school age. The nightmares lessened. The next year Hildemara went back to work to allow them to put more into the house. The kids came home to an empty house the rest of the year. Summer came and Trip drove the kids to Oma’s. At the end of summer Oma drove them back home. Trip built a cottage for Oma by their house. Hildemara was worried because she would be so near and Carolyn loved her so much.

Carolyn liked the fact that she no longer had to come home to any empty house and could go to the cottage and be with Oma.

This went on until Carolyn was in high school. This was Charlie’s last year and their parents were trying to help him with college. Carolyn felt very left out.

In 1965 Carolyn was graduating and has been accepted at Berkeley. Charlie came home and confided in Carolyn that he had enlisted in the Marines. In 1966 Carolyn moves into an apartment with a friend, Rachel. They party a lot and her grades started dropping. In 1967 Carolyn flunked her midterms and stopped going to classes. She spent her time gathering signatures in an attempt to stop the war in Vietnam and drinking heavily. 1968 came and Carolyn received a phone call from Oma that Charlie was dead. Carolyn did not come home for the funeral. She ran away to Haight-Ashbury and smoked pot and drank. Rachel overdosed and died and Carolyn slept in parks and where ever she could and ate out of trash cans. One day she saw a young Vietnam veteran playing a guitar in the park. She stopped to listen. He gave her a candy bar and offered to share his fire and later his sleeping bag. Early the next morning she got up and walked off. She got lost and lay down in the grass among flowers. She heard a man call her name. His face was light and he spoke to her again and told her to go home. She knew it was Jesus. She saw a young woman with two kids spreading a picnic lunch and the lady spoke to her and offered her a sandwich. They talked and Carolyn told her about Charlie. The lady told Carolyn that her husband was a MIA. She took Carolyn to the bus station and paid her fare home.

When she got home Oma was out traveling. Hildamara and Trip seemed distant but allowed her to stay until she discovered she was pregnant and they packed her off to stay with a friend. Her daughter May Flower Dawn was born and Carolyn thought they wanted her to give the baby up for adoption because they were ashamed. Her parents sent her a car seat as their way of saying come home with the baby.

Read the book to learn how Carolyn fares with a baby and then how she puts her family back together as they discover each other and things over the years.

I really enjoyed the book which is quite lengthy and could see how it is possible to think you are helping someone and be actually causing a rift that may be hard to get across.

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