Set in the 1830's Callandra's father has died and to help out the family financially she agrees to marry the local clergyman.

Norbert is harsh and cruel husband, and when he tells his wife they are to move from Scotland to Goderich in Upper Canada.

Callandra is only 15 years old and is happy that they have been accepeted by the people of her new homeland but when her husbands lies start a rebellion she wonders if there is anyone she can trust,

This is a wonderful read and I really enjoyed it. I loved the descriptive writing and the story is beautifully told.

The Road to Goderich is a story about love, heartbreak, survival, and redemption. As the oldest child in a large family, Callandra soon finds herself in a no-win situation after her father's untimely death. Without him, they will not be able to sustain their farm. A visiting minister delivers the eulogy for the father who has passed away. Taking an interest in the eldest daughter, Callandra, he proposes to Callandra's mother that he marry Callandra. In exchange, he would continue to pay for the family's farm lease. Callandra was mortified when the minister proposed to her. Callandra already had a deep affection for someone, and he was nothing to behold. She begs her mother not to force her to marry him. Fortunately, her mother agrees. Due to her family's needs, Callandra has a change of heart and marries Mr. Scott. In addition to being a clergyman, Mr. Scott comes from a wealthy family. Callandra is treated harshly by the Scotts after the wedding. Life becomes very difficult and lonely for Callandra. Due to his stuttering and pouty appearance, Norbert did not find much favor in his father's eyes. He found favor only in his mother's eyes, who caudled him. Except for traveling clergy work, he had no real job. As a husband, he was abusive and hateful to Callandra. After hearing about the need for clergy in backwoods Canadian providences, Norbert thinks this might just be his chance to escape the harshness he constantly receives at home. This news devastates Callandra. As long as Lottie the housemaid can accompany them, she takes solace in this. Sam, Lottie's brother, intervenes on his sister's behalf. Sam would travel to Canada and build the church in Goderich, which meant Lottie would also travel. During their trek across the Canadian wilderness, Norbert drowns in an accident. Sam gets confused with the Reverend Scott when he arrives in Goderich. Sam and Callandra decide to accept the misunderstanding and let the people of Goderich believe that Sam is Norbert. The men of Goderich assist Sam in building the church in Goderich. Despite not being a preacher, Sam did everything in his power to prolong preaching. As much as I would love to share more about this amazing book, I do not want to spoil the rest of the story for you.

My main quarrel with this book is that the blurb gives most of the plot away! Instead of being curious about what would happen next, I found myself just looking out for milestones and ticking them off mentally. The only uncharted waters came in the final 30% or so!

Story and Cadence:
🍁 The language was modern which made reading this a breeze. The pace is good and I finished the book in two days.
🍁 Storytelling was telling-heavy, almost reportage in some places. It made me feel like I was reading a non-fiction at times and made me want to verify some of the terms and stuff.
🍁 I didn’t like the head-hopping in the close third person.
🍁 The passage of time was inconsistent and confusing, particularly once we get to Canada: what felt like days passing were claimed to be years, which didn’t make sense with the timeline and kept pulling me out of the story trying to reorient myself.

Characters, Setting, and Atmosphere:
🍁 The characters were pretty wooden. Callandra and Sam were 2024 transplants. Norbert and his mother were cartoon villains (all the antagonists were simply “bad”, there was no complexity or depth to them whatsoever). On the other hand, characters like Lottie had no depth either, just “good”. Blair was a creep and it was kinda gross how Callandra was egging him on out of self-interest.
🍁 Many of the character motivations made no sense to me (Did they seriously think they were going to get away with it? Why didn’t Callandra just leave Goderich, like, after multiple things happened?! Rosalee was all over the show in terms of actions, as was Jones.)
🍁 I was disappointed by the weak sense of place. I grew up up the Lake Huron coast from Goderich and now live in West Coast Scotland - neither the Scotland or Canadian places felt developed and I wasn’t transported like I’d hoped I’d be!
🍁 Personally, I didn’t like how one element <spoiler removed> was used as a plot device for a last minute “gotcha”.

Writing and Presentation:
🍁 Some of the dialogue felt stilted and unnatural.
🍁 The ending felt rushed and deeply unsatisfying after the journey we made to get there. Any semblance of characterization or plot seems to kinda go off the rails. There was a twist toward the end that surprised me but it made the whole story fall pretty flat, emotionally; it also brought in more questions about s specific character’s motivations for this reader.
🍁 Consistency issues: author uses both “Glasgow University” and “University of Glasgow” - the latter is correct. I’m not a historian and didn’t investigate some of the things that made me go “hmmm” but there were a few (maybe it’s accurate but the use of “Head Office” for the church thing didn’t feel like an early 1800s term).
🍁 The book layout is beautifully presented from a design perspective.

Ultimately, I don’t regret giving this a go. I have a soft spot for books set in Ontario and Scotland - and this has both! But, I’m not sure I’d recommend it on the whole. In addition to the above, it’s a very bleak story and it’s one that you’d want to make sure you were in the right headspace to read before picking it up.