Catherine’s Dream
A STORY TO HELP WOMEN NURTURE THEIR DREAMS AGAINST ALL ODDS
“Catherine’s Dream is a gripping novel full of the beauty and loss of a woman finding her way in an oftentimes harsh and cruel world. I found myself immediately on the farm with her, relishing in the new discoveries of a 1920s Polish orchard, the town, and a world far from my own.
My heart ached with her, and I wanted to follow her journey all the way through. Beautifully woven with hope, faith, and perseverance, Catherine is a glimpse into history and a story of love and redemption despite the shadows in the light.”
A STORY OF SPIRIT AND COURAGE
Catherine’s Dream
Catherine’s Dream is a story inspired by true events about a young woman who came to America in 1921 from Poland under an arranged marriage with a dream in her heart and a lost romance only to face an unpredictable twist of fate that will bring her closer to her dream.
How many readers live with unlived dreams? How many enjoy stories with main characters who nurture their dreams against all odds, until God or fate allows them to burst beautifully into life? This is a novel for those readers.
Catherine is a young Polish peasant woman in the early 1900s, who has dreams of becoming an artist. But how will she pursue her dream when she must conceal her drawings, from her father, a pragmatic, peasant-farmer, who demands she work to support the family? In fact, much to Catherine’s dismay, he plans to marry her to a local village boy and settle into a life of security on the small apple orchard that is her dowry.
Over and above her family turmoil the Great War has ended but the fighting over Poland’s border with Ukraine continues.
Tension rises, not only around Catherine’s artistic dreams, but also because she has fallen in love with Józef, a young, local blacksmith who has his own dreams to create beautiful jewelry and encourages her to follow her heart despite her family’s resistance.
But the plans others force upon her, along with Józef’s disappearance – and probable death – on the war front, send her life skidding in a direction she must now tolerate but not live with all her heart.
Sold as a “bride” to a crude lout of a man, shipped off to a mountain town in backwoods America, Catherine faces and works through all the cold winds of bad chance and decisions made to thwart her… and in the end, her fears and doubts are overcome with faith and a strong spirit. The spirit of Józef and the special necklace he had made her.
Through all this, Catherine has learned that knowing what she wants, taking risks, and trusting God is how to overcome fear and doubt to pursue her dreams. This story is to help women nurture their dreams against all odds and believe in themselves.
