Icecutter's Daughter

Icecutter's Daughter by Tracie Peterson
1895 and Merrill is on the farm, birthing a horse. Her main duties are the kitchen since her mother had passed away 10 years ago.
Granny and Corabeth pay a visit and give her a hat they modified. They are always trying to make her a pretty looking female as she has no one to turn to for advice.
The story also follows Rurik and Svea and they are to be married, it was prearranged by their fathers but as they are older now they tend to think they need to wait. He will leave to help his Uncle Carl in MN and give them some time away from one another.
Love learning about the furniture making career and all about the ice harvest.
Rurik gets invited to help with the ice harvest as Carl is too old to help much and he stays for dinner while helping Merrills father after his fall. They meet at church and again they have dinner with the family.
Rurik has ideas of painting the furniture that Murrill has painted in her house as a sideline for Carl's furniture...
Some German and Swedish is spoken but not a lot that you get lost.
Carl gives him a proposal of what to do with his furniture business and it may solve all of Rurik's problems...
Rurik gets a surprise visit ... things are totally misunderstood.
Loved learning about the sewing techniques back then and how such simple things was a way of life.
One of the settlements I do knitting for actually demonstrates how to cut the ice, so unique!
Faith, believing in God and reciting prayers are relevant in this book.

Out of the 115+ books I've read this year this is my favorite.
An excerpt for another book is included at the back.

The settlement that I knit for will have a 'fire and ice' demo where they do ice harvesting in a few weeks time. Hope to go.