Title: Solbakken: A Tale of Generations
Author: Wendy Jo Cerna
Where to buy: Amazon (affiliate link)
Genre: Christian Fantasy
Would I recommend: Definitely. This is a compelling family mystery and an intriguing imagining of what eternal life might look like for Christ-followers.
Synopsis:
“Happy birthday dear Mom- Grammy, Tora, Auntie, Happy birthday to you!” The people that fill my screen – each in their own little box – sing and smile once more before disappearing, one by one. Blowing them kisses I say, “Thank you all. I love you!” As I reflect on this sixty-fifth birthday of mine, filled with the forced distances of our pandemic era, the phone rings, jarring me back into the moment.
“Hello Billy,” I say.
“Hey, Tor.” My cousin’s tone is serious. His words clipped.
“What’s going on? Everyone okay?” I ask.
“Yes, we’re fine but… well, I was just driving by your Uncle Einar’s place… I hate to tell you this, Tora, but somebody broke in. The sheriff is coming out in the morning. It’s quite a mess in there. Looks like every drawer and cupboard was emptied out.”
Uncle Einar’s home stands empty much of the year, and is the original family homestead my grandparents built in Solbakken, Minnesota, in the early 1900’s after immigrating from Norway.
“What? Are you kidding? Who would do that?” I spout. “You need me to come up there?”
A house. A mess. A mystery. Amongst the scattered papers and photographs, intriguing questions lay unanswered in the Anderson family lineage, hidden for decades. When a stash of ancient coins is found, and a gifted stranger moves in next door, windows are opened to incredible possibilities that transcend imagination and transport Tora throughout her family’s generations.
Tora Dahlgren hasn’t seen her family in person for months due to the social distancing COVID requires, and she’s feeling the distance of the heart as well as the physical space between them. When she gets a call saying that the house belonging to Uncle Einar has been broken into, she willingly heads north to Solbakken to sort out the damage. She has no idea that this trip will set her on a journey of discovery about her family that she could never have imagined and lead her to a purpose she didn’t know she was looking for.
At Einar’s house, Tora finds family documents scattered here and there. As she sorts through them, she finds out information she didn’t know – information that raises a lot of questions.
She also finds a secret stash of coins that, according to her antiquities dealer cousin Clayton, are very, very old and worth a great deal of money. Why did Einar have them? Where did they come from?
And who is Felix, exactly? He’s renting the house next door. He’s polite and helpful, and his dog, Max, is very well-behaved. But he’s an enigma to Tora.
Wendy Jo Cerna weaves an engrossing tale of family, of connections across the years and generations, with secrets kept and things hidden. She uses dreams as a device to impart knowledge to Tora, and it works marvelously! In her dreams, family members from generations past sit with Tora and read stories to her, stories from the family history. She keeps track of the things she dreams, and is surprised to find that within a short time, those things are confirmed in real life.
Tora’s quest to unravel the mysteries of her family serves not only to bring her new and important information about her ancestors. It also serves to pull together a family pushed apart by time, physical distance, and the effects of a global pandemic, give them a vision of things beyond their daily lives, and unite them in a common purpose, with Tora finding herself in a role she never anticipated.
And Felix? Wow, what a surprise he was! In Felix, Cerna paints a picture of what eternal life might look like for someone who came to faith in Christ in his earthly life. The Bible isn’t real clear on the specifics of life in the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21), but it’s fun to imagine that it could be as it’s depicted here. I also loved that Max continued to be part of Felix’s life over the generations. I can’t fathom that God who loves us so would have us spend eternity without our beloved animals. (That may not be theologically sound by some measures, but it’s my opinion.)
I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes from Pastor Mel: “I’ve found that the God who set every star in place, has a vast storehouse of wonders, knowledge, and mysteries just waiting for us to tap into if we will ask and believe.” Read Solbakken: A Tale of Generations and be amazed at the mysteries that reveal themselves in Tora’s story.
I received an advance copy of this book on Reedsy Discovery, and this review was first published there.
