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Promise Song
The year is 1900 and orphaned 14-year-old Rosetta and her beloved younger sister Flora sail from England as “home girls.” They are sent to Canada so that they can have a chance at family life. Their dreams are shattered when Flora is adopted, but Rosetta is deemed to be too old. She is to become a farm worker, far from Flora’s new home.
Rosetta’s only dream is to find her sister. But slowly and against her will, she is drawn into the lives of the strange couple with whom she has been placed. It is soon clear to her that their home is full of fear and sorrow.
As her relationship develops with the farmer’s wife, Rosetta learns that true sisterhood can take many forms. The support the two young women offer one another makes each one stronger until they find a way to follow their dreams.
Rosetta’s only dream is to find her sister. But slowly and against her will, she is drawn into the lives of the strange couple with whom she has been placed. It is soon clear to her that their home is full of fear and sorrow.
As her relationship develops with the farmer’s wife, Rosetta learns that true sisterhood can take many forms. The support the two young women offer one another makes each one stronger until they find a way to follow their dreams.
264 pages, Paperback
First published March 29, 1997
2 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Linda Holeman
27 books242 followersLinda Holeman is the author of fourteen books of fiction. Her work includes two adult collections of literary short stories, Flying to Yellow and Devil’s Darning Needle, as well as the historic novels The Linnet Bird, The Moonlit Cage, In a Far Country, The Saffron Gate, The Lost Souls of Angelkov, and The Devil on Her Tongue. Her young adult body of work consists of a collection of short stories, Saying Good-Bye, which was re-released as Toxic Love, and four novels: Promise Song, Mercy’s Birds, Raspberry House Blues, and Search of the Moon King’s Daughter. She has also written a first-chapter book, Frankie on the Run, illustrated by Heather Collins. To date, Linda’s work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Hungarian, soon to be published in Croatian, Italian, Czech and Slovakian.
As well as being published in many journals and periodicals, her work has been widely anthologized in Canada – most noticeably in The Journey Prize Anthology – and abroad. Linda has also acted as guest editor for a young adult issue of Prairie Fire Magazine, for which was she awarded the Vicky Metcalf Short Story Editor Award. She has been the recipient of many honours and awards for her young adult work.
Linda has been a member of the Manitoba Artists in the Schools Program and CANSCAIP, toured with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, acted as a mentor in the Manitoba Writers’ Guild Mentor Program, taught creative writing through the University of Winnipeg’s Continuing Education, served on many juries, including the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Literature, and created and facilitated numerous writing workshops on many aspects of the writing process to both students and adults nationally and internationally. She held a nine-month term as Writer-in-Residence at the Millennium Library in Winnipeg, and served on the editorial advisory board for Turnstone Press and on the board of the Manitoba Writers Guild. She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada.
Linda holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Winnipeg, a BEd in Early Childhood Education and MEd in Educational Psychology from the University of Manitoba.
She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Source: http://www.lindaholeman.com/
As well as being published in many journals and periodicals, her work has been widely anthologized in Canada – most noticeably in The Journey Prize Anthology – and abroad. Linda has also acted as guest editor for a young adult issue of Prairie Fire Magazine, for which was she awarded the Vicky Metcalf Short Story Editor Award. She has been the recipient of many honours and awards for her young adult work.
Linda has been a member of the Manitoba Artists in the Schools Program and CANSCAIP, toured with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, acted as a mentor in the Manitoba Writers’ Guild Mentor Program, taught creative writing through the University of Winnipeg’s Continuing Education, served on many juries, including the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Literature, and created and facilitated numerous writing workshops on many aspects of the writing process to both students and adults nationally and internationally. She held a nine-month term as Writer-in-Residence at the Millennium Library in Winnipeg, and served on the editorial advisory board for Turnstone Press and on the board of the Manitoba Writers Guild. She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada.
Linda holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Winnipeg, a BEd in Early Childhood Education and MEd in Educational Psychology from the University of Manitoba.
She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Source: http://www.lindaholeman.com/
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 1, 2017
Worth the read for teenagers (young adults) intrigued by historical fiction. This book is comparable to Canadian weather without the extra sunshine and warmth courtesy of global warming.
Content Warning: abusive relationships
Content Warning: abusive relationships
October 3, 2018
AMAZING but the end was not so great.
June 28, 2019
This book was REALLY good but the ending was so “meh”
December 15, 2023
Κριτική στα Ελληνικά πιο κάτω...
This story is quite predictable and the characters are very cliche. That said, it held my interest till the end, although the final scenes could have been more well-written and it's not a very memorable read overall.
Maybe the book could have made more of an impression to me if I read it back in my teenage years, but nowadays this kind of stories feel a bit meeeh to me, especially if the writing is averrage and there isn't some wit or clever characterisation or some original element to spice the plot a bit...
A decent read to pass the time, no more, no less than that.
Το διάβασα σε 2-3 απογεύματα. Η ιστορία είναι αρκετά προβλέψιμη και οι χαρακτήρες κλισέ, ωστόσο μου κράτησε το ενδιαφέρον ως το τέλος(το οποίο θα μπορούσε να είναι πιο καλογραμμένο). Ίσως αν το διάβαζα στην εφηβεία να μου έκανε μεγαλύτερη εντύπωση, ωστόσο τώρα πια δεν μου κάνουν τόσο αίσθηση οι ιστορίες τέτοιου είδους, ειδικά αν το γράψιμο δεν λέει και πολλά.
Αξιοπρεπές να περάσει κανείς την ώρα του, αλλά ως εκεί.
This story is quite predictable and the characters are very cliche. That said, it held my interest till the end, although the final scenes could have been more well-written and it's not a very memorable read overall.
Maybe the book could have made more of an impression to me if I read it back in my teenage years, but nowadays this kind of stories feel a bit meeeh to me, especially if the writing is averrage and there isn't some wit or clever characterisation or some original element to spice the plot a bit...
A decent read to pass the time, no more, no less than that.
Το διάβασα σε 2-3 απογεύματα. Η ιστορία είναι αρκετά προβλέψιμη και οι χαρακτήρες κλισέ, ωστόσο μου κράτησε το ενδιαφέρον ως το τέλος(το οποίο θα μπορούσε να είναι πιο καλογραμμένο). Ίσως αν το διάβαζα στην εφηβεία να μου έκανε μεγαλύτερη εντύπωση, ωστόσο τώρα πια δεν μου κάνουν τόσο αίσθηση οι ιστορίες τέτοιου είδους, ειδικά αν το γράψιμο δεν λέει και πολλά.
Αξιοπρεπές να περάσει κανείς την ώρα του, αλλά ως εκεί.
April 8, 2021
4.5 stars
July 26, 2014
Promise Song Appeals With a Coming of Age Story Set in Quaint, Historical Canada
3.5 / 5 stars
Orphans Rosetta and Flora Westley have journeyed across the Atlantic to begin a new life in early nineteenth-century Canada. Rosetta dreams of being adopted into a loving family with Flora, but nothing goes as planned. Rosetta instead finds herself facing more hardships than she imagined, and worst of all, separated from Flora. Rosetta must draw upon her inner strength and resourcefulness in order to endure. She has to, in order to ever see Flora again.
Promise Song is a teenage historical fiction novel that I received from an older cousin when I was a teenager myself. The novel is a coming of age story, highlighting themes of responsibility, family, and inner strength. I found myself being drawn back to a time when I myself was experiencing and learning what it meant to grow up, just as Rosetta did in the novel. The story is timeless and relevant seventeen years later, and I would gladly pass this novel along to younger family members without hesitation. The appeal of the novel as an adult reader was the sense of connection I felt to my teenage self. A glance at a not-too-distant time and age.
I was also drawn into nineteenth-century Canada in all of its glory. Holeman does a wonderful job of grounding her fictitious tale upon a real time and place. I was wistfully imagining country fields, the familiarity of the residents with one another, penny candy at the general store, wooden schoolhouses, and the like. However, I was simultaneously thankful to be living in the present as I read about Rosetta’s struggles as a woman and as a new immigrant to Canada. In this authentic setting, I felt a genuine, warm connection to Rosetta and her endeavours.
This novel does not present an antagonist in the classic sense until the end of the novel, but rather a series of smaller events and “grey” characters that push her further away from her ultimate goal of finding Flora again. I could not give this novel a higher score for this reason. I was drawn to the protagonist and the setting, but the plot did not make this a “stand-out” novel for me. I certainly cared that Rosetta was frustrated in her efforts, but I was so convinced by her determination and the lack of dominant antagonist that I was equally as convinced that she would succeed.
All in all, a timeless novel for teenagers and nostalgic adult readers for many more years to come.
3.5 / 5 stars
Orphans Rosetta and Flora Westley have journeyed across the Atlantic to begin a new life in early nineteenth-century Canada. Rosetta dreams of being adopted into a loving family with Flora, but nothing goes as planned. Rosetta instead finds herself facing more hardships than she imagined, and worst of all, separated from Flora. Rosetta must draw upon her inner strength and resourcefulness in order to endure. She has to, in order to ever see Flora again.
Promise Song is a teenage historical fiction novel that I received from an older cousin when I was a teenager myself. The novel is a coming of age story, highlighting themes of responsibility, family, and inner strength. I found myself being drawn back to a time when I myself was experiencing and learning what it meant to grow up, just as Rosetta did in the novel. The story is timeless and relevant seventeen years later, and I would gladly pass this novel along to younger family members without hesitation. The appeal of the novel as an adult reader was the sense of connection I felt to my teenage self. A glance at a not-too-distant time and age.
I was also drawn into nineteenth-century Canada in all of its glory. Holeman does a wonderful job of grounding her fictitious tale upon a real time and place. I was wistfully imagining country fields, the familiarity of the residents with one another, penny candy at the general store, wooden schoolhouses, and the like. However, I was simultaneously thankful to be living in the present as I read about Rosetta’s struggles as a woman and as a new immigrant to Canada. In this authentic setting, I felt a genuine, warm connection to Rosetta and her endeavours.
This novel does not present an antagonist in the classic sense until the end of the novel, but rather a series of smaller events and “grey” characters that push her further away from her ultimate goal of finding Flora again. I could not give this novel a higher score for this reason. I was drawn to the protagonist and the setting, but the plot did not make this a “stand-out” novel for me. I certainly cared that Rosetta was frustrated in her efforts, but I was so convinced by her determination and the lack of dominant antagonist that I was equally as convinced that she would succeed.
All in all, a timeless novel for teenagers and nostalgic adult readers for many more years to come.
August 8, 2012
this book is AWESUM!!!!!!!
February 14, 2013
It was a tender story of two, orphan sisters in search of a loving family. It was a well-written novel and it painted wonderful pictures of the Canadian landscape and life on the farm.
February 29, 2016
A sweet story. More a teenage read.enjoyable.
July 10, 2016
So sweet one of my faves. It teachers you that a sisters bond is un-breakable and family is important.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews