Book Review of
The Lumber Baron’s Wife

Lynn's Review

The Lumber Baron’s Wife by Lynn Austin is a dual timeline Christian historical fiction book. 

It is set in Michigan during the present day and 1873. 

In 1873, Hannah and her husband John, who is a doctor, leave their comfortable East Coast life for the wilderness near Lake Michigan. Hannah becomes friends with Katie, the much younger wife of a local lumber baron. 

In the present day, Ashley moves to Michigan for her husband’s dream job. Ashley gets involved in the project to restore the lumber baron’s house. 

Lynn Austin is a well known Christian fiction writer. I think this is the second third book that I have read by her. It will probably be the last one by her that I read. 

For so many reasons, this book was a two star or maybe one star read for me. I am in the minority in that. This book gets great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. 

I picked this book for my Michigan book for my fiction book for every state challenge, but once I finished it, I knew I probably wouldn’t count it for Michigan. 

I grew up in a logging town. I know a lot about logging history, but I grew up in Oregon, not Michigan. I was looking forward to learning a lot about logging in Michigan in 1873. I was severely disappointed. 

After I finished this book, I discussed it with a friend, and she said it sounded like it tells rather than shows. And I instantly knew that was a huge part of why I didn’t love this book. 

The book was not really about logging and lumber barons. It had some history about one lumber baron’s wife, but very little about logging and lumber. 

When the author talks about logging accidents that happened while rolling logs down the river, she just says they happened. She didn’t describe it. Rolling logs down the river was extremely dangerous, yet the author gave very few details. It was almost like the author knew nothing about logging and lumber. That is what the book was supposed to be about, so I thought she would have done her research. 

There were also times when it didn’t read true to the time period. One example is a bunch of women who were living on the frontier, jumping on chairs and screaming about a mouse. A mouse in the late 1800s in the wilderness wouldn’t have made a bunch of women jump and scream because mice were part of life they would have been used to. The author inserted a modern reaction into the 1800s. 

The book was also incredibly predictable and cheesy. To me, it was very Hallmark movie-like. I like a good book that reads like a Hallmark movie, but when it comes to historical fiction, I want real life. I don’t want everything to wrap up neatly all the time. 

I also see the point in Christian fiction that good needs to overcome evil, but again it should be done in a realistic way. This book did not read as realistic. I also did not feel like it showed the process of change. It just happened. 

I also disagreed with some of the theology in the book. It was very shallow, yet very preachy. 

Again, it is Christian fiction. I knew it would be Christian. I like that part, but I like it written in a realistic way. 

This book was a reminder of why I don’t read a lot of Christian historical fiction. Just because it is Christian doesn’t mean it has to be predictable and inaccurate. 

If you have read this one, I would love to hear your thoughts. 

About Lynn Austin

Lynn Austin is the best selling author of over twenty Christian fiction books. She lives in Michigan with her husband.