title: Long Journey Westward
author: Nicolet, Janet A.
description: Long Journey Westward is an inspiring chronicle set in the late 1880s as an Irish emigrant family reluctantly leaves their poverty-stricken, but beloved, homeland for the sake of survival. The story centers on the adventures of the son, Robert, who sets out in the early 1900s to make a life for himself in the newly established area of Canada - Fraser Mills, British Columbia. There he obtains a position as cook with a sawmill company. He's tall and good-looking with a strong Christian upbringing, but definitely does not fit in with many of those in the workplace. They are burly, crude-speaking and heavy-drinking lumbermen that he must encounter daily while at work and living in the company's bunkhouse. He faces condemnation and confrontation for being a non-conformist to their lifestyle. Loneliness sets in, driving him to consider taking a mail-order bride for a wife. Through many challenges and adversities, Robert continues to uphold his Christian principles. Even so, at times he questions the choice he made in leaving home to work and survive in the environment in which he finds himself.