Winter's Promise

by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard

Daniel Webster Jones doesn’t know what to think of the Mormons. His preacher uncle says they are trouble. His father tells him to look for God in nature and not in a stifled church. Still, the young boy growing up in Missouri during times of religious persecution wasn’t sure who or what he believed. But when Daniel’s Mormon friend Emily and her family are driven from their home by an angry mob and he finds himself orphaned, Daniel must seek God—and his future—on his own. Winter’s Promise is the emotional story of one man’s quest to find himself, and a young woman’s pursuit of her lost love. The story, set against the backdrop of early Latter-day Saint history, follows Daniel and Emily as they separately journey across the rugged West in search of happiness and hope.

276 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2005

About the author

Janene Baadsgaard has written extensively for over thirty years offering her readers valuable information, insight and humor about life. She is the author of hundreds of newspaper columns and features, magazine articles and over a dozen books. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University in Communications with a journalism emphasis and has taught courses in writing and literature for Utah Valley University.

She and her husband Ross are the parents of ten children and live on two acres in the country in Spanish Fork Utah. She is a full-time homemaker and believes loving God, herself, her husband, children and grandchildren is the most important thing she will ever do with her life. Her mission is to support, strengthen and uplift families beginning with her own. Her hobbies include reading, writing, singing, playing the piano/violin and gardening.

A popular speaker, thousands have heard her wit and wisdom at such events as BYU Education Week, BYU Family Expo, BYU Women's Conference, Deseret Book's Time Out for Women as well as numorous other civic and church sponsored events.

Reviews

[Dee Toomey]

I am only up to chapter 3 but already love this story.

I have finished and loved the story. The author has done her research, and the story takes you back in time to the early church, through pursecutions in Missouri, pursecutions in Navuoo, to the dificult trek west to the Salt Lake Valley, all told through the lives of Daniel Jones and his dear mormon friend, Emily Colton.

Emily and Daniel meet by chance in the woods of Daniels family farm and become fast and inseperable friends. Then, as Danny looses his family, and Emily's family is driven away by Mormon-hating mobs, they become seperated for years. Still, each carries a love for the other and refuse to let go of the memories of their deep abiding feelings for each other.

Time and again, they come close to reuniting, only to miss each other sometimes by minutes.

Interwoven in this story of a love between this young man and woman is the story of hardships, heartbreaks, sickness, loss...that will tear at your heart as you feel for the people experiencing this tragedies.

I hightly recommend this book not just to Mormons, but to any who are curious about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

[Susan]

If you have a pioneer heritage, especially the Willey and Martin handcarts, you need to read this book. The two main characters really drew me into the story.

[April Moody]

Anything by my mom is a 5 in my book :)