Promises to Keep is actually one long novel, published in three volumes, set in New Zealand in the late 1800s. If you read the first volume, you're going to want to read all three. Because of that, I'm going to comment on each volume separately, but I'm also going to make some remarks about the work as a whole that I'll include in each review.

Sentence of Marriage In this book we meet Amy Leith, a farm girl in New Zealand in the 1880s. She has dreams of becoming a teacher, but her life seems constricted by the demands of farm life. In the course of the book, she makes some choices that set the course of her future. We also meet Lizzie, Amy's true-blue ally, a friend any of us would be lucky to have. Lizzie has her eye on Frank, a shy boy from a neighboring farm. And Amy meets the dazzling Jimmy, a man of the world from the big city (Auckland). We learn a lot about life on the farm, the grim daily labor that people took for granted, and the simple fun of haymaking and a local dance.

General comments on the work as the whole: As a person who lives almost exactly halfway around the world from New Zealand, I found this story fascinating. The characters are compelling and the plot is a page-turner. But I also was really interested in the local and historical flavor. In some ways the lives of the characters are similar to what they would have been in my part of the world at the same time in history. But the local flora and fauna are so different. The cows get into "tutu" for example, instead of the locoweed I'm used to. And the language is so interesting. People "go crook" and "sort out" other people. I understand that the author went to some trouble to make sure the language was current for the time.

The historical setting is interesting too. At the beginning of the story, women have no rights at all. Even in a good marriage, a husband is expected to "sort out" his wife, meaning slap her around a bit. But during the course of the story, women gain the right to vote (and the voting officials won't let the husbands into the booths with their wives, which causes a lot of consternation.) The younger generation of women are more independent and outspoken, which adds to the pleasure of reading the story.

The writing is very cinematic; you can "see" everything clearly. The first part of the story is pretty grim; the characters go through some tough times. But if you read all the way to the end, there is an enormously satisfying ending. It's not necessarily a fairy-tale happy-ever-after ending, but there's a turn of joy that is -- perfect. If you see it coming ahead of time, that only adds to the pleasure when it finally occurs.

This books sticks with you unlike any fiction book I have ever read. The 'real' style that the author writes in makes this such a memorable book. If you at all like historical fiction, and are looking for something unique, reading this book would not be time wasted.

It's an engaging story with complex characters. The "good" characters have plenty of faults, many of which go hand-in-hand with their good points. The same goes for the "villains," who have sympathetic components that allow you to see where their faults originate. No one is all good or all bad. The most incredible aspect of Parkinson's writing is her ability to get the reader to understand the thought processes of all of the major characters, even those who we don't read from their perspective. You can see why they make the decisions they do, even though she never spells it out. Overall, I am quite impressed by what she has accomplished - especially without the aid of a professional editor! However, even if this book was edited and published by some Big Company, I'd still be impressed. I'm not saying this book is good "for a self-published book." I'm saying this book is good, period. I'm eager to know what happens next!