What an outstanding book of family, heritage, shocks, grace and redemption! Ginny has long put aside her dreams to go to England and do her master gardening when she is unexpectedly call back home, a place she knew she was unwelcomed. Or was she? She had no idea that she now owned her family homeplace, since her deceased brother had lied about that, and many other things precious to her. There were immediate surprises, most unpleasant and shocking. While she now owned the family Christmas farm, it was floundering and under so much debt. Yet, this is a story of hope, grace, redemption, romance and especially family. Ginny and others deal with important issues, such as how to deal with mean, controlling and lying family members. How do you deal with past mistakes and the knowledge of things you misunderstood and should have done better? What do you do about conflicting dreams? How do you deal with lack of money? Do you hold yourself back from getting attached to young, innocent children in your family in order to protect yourself? Can you pray for help and miracles? What if other people help you but it is not enough? Read and find out!
I appreciate reading this advanced reader copy, compliments of the publishers. My expressed thoughts are my own.

This Promised Land is the latest release from the beloved author Cathy Gohlke. I absolutely adored her previous books A Hundred Crickets Singing and Band of Sisters and Ladies of the Lake and...well needless to say I have read several of her books and they nearly always earn 5 stars.

One thing I always have to remember is that Cathy's characters are seriously flawed with loads of baggage of some kind. Her topics aren't low key and simple. So if I'm going to read one of her books, I need to be ready to dive into some seriously deep stuff to see how the characters redemption will happen. Because one thing is for sure--she ALWAYS provides redemption. It just can be super messy.

In this book, we've got the main character who is in her 60s. She's had to live a long hard life caring for a man who came back from WW2 damaged for life physically and emotionally. Thus she's also childless. At the start of the book, she's excited to FINALLY be able to do something for herself. She's going to travel in Europe and relish doing whatever she wants on her own timeline!

Until she gets that pesky letter about her long estranged brother's death and something about the property of her childhood. The family home she dearly loved but was told never to return to. So she decides against her better judgement to go see what the deal is and then get out...and that (as the saying goes) is history...

This is a story of jealousy. Of bitterness. and how those things can destroy someone and damage everything around them. But it's a story of family. And the power of love.

Topics: PTSD, Suicide, Dementia, Foster care, homelessness, substance abuse, infertility

I highly recommend this story. Is it my favorite by the author? No. But it is still excellent.

4 stars.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this novel. All opinions are 100% my own.

Ms. Gohlke is a master storyteller who pulled the emotions from me with her tale of an estranged family brought together by unexpected circumstances.
Comparing their situation to the story of the Prodigal Son, widow Aunt Ginny Dee sees herself and her relatives in many of the roles in the parable. She takes scripture to heart and begins to heal from past hurts. This story was told so beautifully and had me connecting with the characters and their spiritual journey.
This could absolutely be made into a movie or a series and could touch a multitude of souls. I appreciate the clear Gospel message and the way the characters lived out their faith naturally. Ms. Gohlke crafted the story with flawed people and the situations were dire at times. But the way she portrayed the caring community spoke volumes.
I am so grateful I chose to read this book.
*A complimentary copy of this book was provided by Tyndale via NetGalley. I was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are mine alone.*

Cathy Gohlke's gift for storytelling makes her books an automatic read for me. When I picked up this book, I realized the 1990's setting was fairly contemporary to her historical novels. I need not have worried. This Promised Land is an exquisite tale that celebrates family and the transformative power of love and forgiveness to heal the pain of the past.

This story follows three different generations of the Pickering family as they all convene to save the family Christmas tree farm. Gohlke enriches the plot with emotional depth and strong character development. I found the members of the family endearing, especially young Arlo(9) as part of the story was told from her POV. It is a strong allegory to the parable of the prodigal son, as various members of the family are compelled to face their own mistakes. Ms. Gohlke deftly peels back the curtain on the inner turmoil as they face the choice between long held grudges and hurts or love and forgiveness.

This Promised Land is a bighearted gem of a story, one of surrendered dreams to unexpected blessings. A story every reader's heart will embrace.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When I saw that Cathy Gohlke had written a new book, I immediately went looking for a copy to read. It had been a number of years since I read one of her books, but I remembered liking them, so I downloaded This Promised Land right away and started to read it.
Publisher’s description:
Ginny Pickering Boyden can’t wait for her last day of work, when she’ll be free to pursue a lifelong ambition through a master gardener apprenticeship. But an unexpected letter brings shocking news: Ginny has inherited her family’s Christmas tree farm, a dream she’d long ago given up.
Facing a past laced with memories and lies she’s tried hard to bury, a furious nephew who thought the land would be his, and a failing farm with a mountain of debt, Ginny returns to New Scrivelsby, Virginia, determined to sell. But when her younger nephew, a Vietnam vet, appears with demons of his own and three young children in tow, Ginny isn’t sure what to do. Too much of their story reminds Ginny of her own. She has little hope, however, that three generations of warring Pickerings can set aside their differences to restore all that’s broken, both on the land and in their hearts.
Set against the beautiful and rugged landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains, This Promised Land is the story of a daughter’s longing to make sense of the past and of the unbreakable bonds that bring prodigals home.
My thoughts:
I was not disappointed with This Promised Land! In fact, within a few chapters I remembered why I enjoyed Cathy Gohkle’s books so much. This is a very well-crafted story, and I quickly found myself invested in Ginny as a character. Both she and Luke were rather annoying, as they struggled to let go of old animosities, misunderstandings and outright lies they had believed. I loved the underlying theme of the Prodigal Son, and how that story could play out today.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the very minor role that romance played in the plot. It was there, and I saw it coming from the second or third chapter when a male character appeared, but there was no hint of romantic feelings until about the 50% mark. Most of the plot of this book has to do with Ginny and her nephews, and the farm.
Another character that made her way into my heart quickly was Arlo. A typical firstborn, she made it her responsibility to take care of and protect her siblings, and did her best to guard her father from his weaknesses. But when she accidentally stumbled onto the scene of illegal activity and inadvertently bright trouble and danger to the farm, she needed help that she couldn’t bring herself to accept. I found myself turning pages as far as I could to get the family out of danger!
If you enjoy a well-written family story with a strong spiritual message, try This Promised Land. You will love it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

This portrayal of the prodigal son hit home in many ways. It shows the pain and suffering caused by our soldiers going to war and coming back as different people. It talks about families with long time rifts that need to be healed. And it shows how God can help with the healing. Cathy Gohlke did a great job creating in-depth characters with lives I wanted to know about.

My gratitude to the publisher for a complimentary e-copy of the novel. I was not required to post a review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Ginny Mae Pickering Boyden has finally reached retirement age. Her disappointing adult life is ready for a new chapter and she has arranged an internship at the family's ancestral village in the UK. It is quite a coup for a retirement-age person to gain the internship. As she packs up to leave, she is advised of her brother's death and must take a few days to attend to his estate.
The turn of events brings news and angst to Ginny as she struggles with the decisions to be made.
This is a story, in modern telling, of all the characters of the Biblical prodigal son story. Ginny herself can picture different phases of her own life as the wayward son, the unforgiving brother and the amazingly welcoming father. I plan to use this book with my women's book club.

When Ginny Dee finds out she has inherited the farm she left as a teenager, she has no intentions of staying. She arrives to find the land that had been promised to her is occupied by family she didn’t know she had. But instead of a warm welcome, Ginny Dee is greeted with suspicion and nephews who don’t get along, as well as 2 young grand nieces and a grand nephew who have escaped the foster system and have been living in a truck with their father. As each family member learns to grow in forgiveness and trust, they begin to appreciate the gift of family they have been given. But the farm is deep in debt, and it seems there is no way to keep the farm that has come to serve as a haven of hope not just for the family but for the community. Just as they have come together, it appears they will be separated.

I know an author has created realistic characters when I find myself wanting to pray them through their hardships! Gohlke has written a complex family drama that shows the beauty and strength of family bonds that are healed through love and forgiveness.

“We all make mistakes, but we don’t have to live in them forever.”

This Promised Land by talented author Cathy Gohlke, is a beautiful story of redemption, forgiveness, and the importance of family. Reminiscent of the parable of the Prodigal Son, this tale features Ginny Pickering Boyden who has long been estranged from her family. As she gets ready to retire and move to England, she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited the family tree farm. She travels to the farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains and encounters her nephews who are counting on running the farm. The characters are beautifully-drawn with all their own flaws and strengths. I especially enjoyed the three children and their relationship with their new-found family. Strong faith elements give a depth of meaning to the story.

Cathy Gohlke is one of my favorite Christian Fiction authors, and this book is definitely one for the keeper shelf.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from Tyndale through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I have long been a fan of Cathy Gohlke’s historical fiction, so I was eager to read her first (someone correct me if I’m wrong about that) contemporary novel, This Promised Land. Ohhhhhh, y’all. This is such a moving story of family, redemption, and restoration. I didn’t want to put it down, soaking in the characters and the grace notes like rays of sunshine after a month of rain.

The novel takes place in the early 1990s (with impacts from as far back as WW2 and the Vietnam War) and follows the perspectives of 3 separate generations of women in what’s left of the Pickering family: 65-year-old Ginny Pickering Boyden, her nephew Luke’s wife Bethany, and her nephew Mark’s oldest daughter Arlo (aged 9, almost 10). There are so many years of dysfunction and estrangement that have kept them separated, but a stunning surprise after Ginny’s brother dies brings them all together at the family’s struggling Christmas tree farm. Where a few more surprises are in store, like the truth about what prevented Ginny from coming home all these years and the harsh reality that may scatter everyone once more. The layers to the Pickerings’ story are so tenderly told that This Promised Land is a book that will stay with me for a long while.

Ginny, Bethany, and Arlo are all broken when we meet them, and so are Luke and Mark… and so was Ginny’s brother. But I saw a little of myself in each of them, and a lot of myself in a couple of them. This is truly a family of prodigals, and oh how I loved the lessons Gohlke weaves into their story. Namely, that we all have the chance to be any of the characters in the parable of the Prodigal Son, and it’s never too late to become like the running father. This at no time feels preachy or like it was forced into the plot, but instead these truths warmly wrap around the reader like a tight hug from someone who refuses to give up on you. To watch their healing unfold is truly touching, and I enjoyed catching the subtle plot devices the author uses to show this gradual progression as much as I did the more overt evidence we can see in the characters themselves.

Bottom Line: This Promised Land by Cathy Gohlke is a gorgeously-written family saga that brims with heart and hope and multidimensional characters who feel like friends. Her masterful storytelling, familiar to fans of her historical fiction, is ideal for this genre too. And honestly, Gohlke has outdone herself when it comes to the transformative character growth in each of the main players (including the kids) and the ever-evolving healing that takes place in the family dynamic as a whole. The redemption, grace, and restoration reflected here so beautifully beckon us to close the final page different than we were when we opened the first one. From the Blue Ridge Mountain setting to the precocious kids, the riveting subplots, and the meaningful layers, This Promised Land is not to be missed.

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

This was a work of true Christian Fiction, featuring rich portrayals of gospel themes (forgiveness, second chances, and redemption) and incorporating genuine faith practices (church attendance, the body of believers, and prayer). Those elements I really loved and it was refreshing to find in a fiction read.
The main character has a love for gardening and good food, and using both to care for and build family bonds.

The characters themselves were compelling, but it seemed like we just scratched the surface of the depth potential they had. The three POVs helped to build a slightly better picture of the whole story, but I still felt like there were large swaths of the past and how it affected the characters’ future that were left vague and underdeveloped. I also, admittedly, got lost in the legal jargon and tax difficulties that were a main thrust of the plot.

I would’ve loved to read this as a dual timeline; I think it would’ve helped to explain each character more and build a better connection for the reader.

😇: Christian publisher (Tyndale); rich gospel themes, faith in practice
😍: small threads of a sweet developing romance
🤐: no language
⛔️: miscarriage referenced, alcohol & drug abuse, mention of ptsd war trauma

Thank you to netgalley & Tyndale Publishing for the complimentary ebook in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I loved everything about this book--the setting, the characters, and the plot. This will be one of my favorites, if not favorite, books of the year. It will live in my head rent free for quite some time. The plot and characters are based on the story of the prodigal son as told by Jesus in the Bible. All the characters are in need of healing from the past. I highly recommend this book,

The storytelling in This Promised Land grabs you right from the start and doesn’t let go. What struck me most was how the novel offered a fresh and powerful take on the Prodigal Son story. Rather than a straightforward retelling, it felt like an invitation—a reminder that we’re all searching for home, belonging, and redemption in our own way. That thread runs through every character, making their journeys feel personal and real.

The story touches on tough issues but never feels heavy, instead offering a beautiful mix of hope and healing. If you’re looking for a book that’s both thought-provoking and heartwarming, this one’s for you.

Readers who enjoy family drama will love this beautifully written story. Each character has a backstory that gradually comes to light to tie a hurting family together as they struggle with life. Post traumatic stress, anger and alcoholism all play a big part in this emotionally driven story. Loved Skippy, as the kids called him with all his down to earth to earth advice. The prodigals come home… Highly Recommended!

This is early in the year, and I have already found my second book that seems a likely candidate for my top five reads of the year! This Promised Land is an emotional story of loss: loss of hope, love, family, self-respect, identity, and dreams. It is also a story of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration. The story is populated by realistic characters, coping with situations that are unfortunately also realistic. The story points out that we all at some time in our life can be any one of the characters in the story of the prodigal son. It also points out that we don't have to remain in that role.

This Promised Land is very well-written. Cathy Gohlke is a gifted writer who balances emotions not leaving her readers without hope as her characters tackle weighty life circumstances. She points the characters toward a loving God in a winsome way. She has done just that in this story, making it easy for readers to put themselves in her characters' places, and to put the lessons the characters learn to use in their own lives. I most highly recommend This Promised Land and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Tyndale via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The Promised Land - Cathy Gohlke
A gentle read in the hands of a master story teller that plumbs the depths of human emotions and complexity. Cathy Gohlke, a new to me author, left me feeling the story was complete and yet not in a sacchrine, unrealistic HEA manner.

It's a tale of sibling rivalries, jealousies and insecurity that spills into deception, manipulation and control affecting four generations, depriving those affected of love, security, a home and an inheritance.

Cathy Gohlke's novel offers a secure net of hope, love, joy, family, a home and an inheritance into the lives of the children and adults.

You see the church community truly be the hands and feet of Jesus. There are a few rather unrealistic moments, but when you consider that God is in the business of miracles...

I enjoyed this gentle read more than I thought I would. It captured my attention and slowly wove it's magic around my soul. I received an ARC for my reading pleasure, but the opinions are my own.

This Promised Land is another gentle gem from Cathy Gohlke ❤️

She has a gift for tackling heavy subjects in a way that doesn’t *feel* heavy, but hopeful. I believe one aspect of her method is her inclusion of a child’s perspective; that childhood innocence and simplicity might be what I love best about her novels (at least of the few I’ve read so far).

(Is this a spoiler alert?) There were portions of the plot that seemed too far-fetched to be believed; but at the same time, there were still griefs present in the still happy ending that kept the story true to life.

The perspective of a child (and a spunky one, at that!); the incorporation of life’s small joys into the storyline; and the overall comforting tone of this novel are a few of the reasons I will recommend it. It reminded me of the verse in 1 Thessalonians where believers are called to live a quiet life and work with their hands…a calming truth in a chaotic world.

Thank you to NetGalley for granting me access to this advanced reader’s copy!

3.75 ⭐️

"We're made for hard things."

Cathy Gohlke's masterpiece starts out with seemingly irreparable family dynamics, broken dreams, terrible losses and grief and blossoms into a beautifully redemptive tale of family, home, and belonging. Set in 1992 Virginia, Ginny is a weary soul looking forward to retirement and months to be spent abroad with her beloved flowers. Though life has beaten her down, she still has seeds of hope within her heart that are watered and tended by the most unlikely people in her life. I really enjoyed the multi-generational third person voices in the book - Ginny was the central character but Bethany and Arlo's unique voices gave depth and layer to the plot.
The men in the book were equally unique. Will, Mark, and Luke brought different angles, emotions, and baggage to the story and made the plot fuller and richer. I particularly enjoyed the faith threads that focused on forgiveness, grace, and mercy.

If you enjoy women's fiction, this book is definitely for you. I received a complimentary copy courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers via Interviews and Reviews and NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a positive comment. All opinions are my own.

“This Promised Land” by Cathy Gohlke is a good book about family restoration and forgiveness. It is a story that is like the prodigal son story in the Bible. Lots of emotions are evoked in this book and it makes you wonder how you would react in the same situation. Cathy does a great job with her character development and the novel is well written.

Ginny Dee the main character left home at a young age against her parents wishes. Years later she returns home, when she finds out that she has inherited the family farm. There is a lot of resentment from family members over the will and secrets kept and lies told. Can there be healing, restoration and forgiveness for this family? We can’t change the past but we can learn from it and change how we do things in the future.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. Thank you NetGalley and Tyndale House Publishers for an advanced copy of this book.

Cathy Gohlke has become a favorite author of mine, and this beautiful book is my favorite one yet. This sweet story is full of family drama as the Pickering family learns to come together to save their Christmas tree farm despite their history, prodigals, and secrets uncovered along the way. I absolutely loved these characters! While there was plenty of drama and trials, overall it had the cozy feel of farmhouses, cookie baking, and family - the perfect mix of tension and comfort. Spanning several months, it could be read any time of year, but I think it would make a great holiday read, as it ends at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @tyndalehouse for this advanced reader copy. This Promised Land publishes on April 8, but preorders are open now!

📖 Christian fiction. No language. Clean romance. Alcoholism, miscarriage.