Title: Peter Olaf: The New World At Last
Author: Richard H. Grabmeier
Publisher: AuthorsPress
ISBN: TBA
Pages: 360
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Jack Chambers
Hollywood Book Reviews
There are many things in our world that can determine whether or not we are in a place to thrive and grow, or fall and lose ourselves as a whole. One of those things is the concept of success. Success is defined differently by everyone. For some, success is the classic story of finding wealth, being good at your chosen profession, and living a life of comfort and sometimes even luxury. For others, success is finding love, doing what we enjoy in life no matter the financial wins or loses it brings, and building a family together. Yet the need for success can often bring the danger of pitfalls, and managing one’s success is something which can determine how long that success lasts. As Vince Lombardi once said, “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
In author Richard H. Grabmeier’s Peter Olaf: The New World At Last, the author tells the story of Peter Olaf, a young immigrant from Sweden who moves to America at the age of 17 in 1895. Starting off working as a logger in Minnesota, Peter makes his way into a life of wealth and prestige, showcasing the American Dream that many immigrants pursued in their journey during the 19th century. The story follows Peter as he deals with fearsome challenges, heartbreaking tragedies, and personal ups-and-downs as he amasses both wealth and love, as well as building a family while discovering the price of success as a whole.
The author did such an incredible job of building a comprehensive and complex world for the characters. The attention to detail really elevated the narrative and allowed the characters to shine brightly. The atmosphere and setting really played heavily into the narrative, especially considering the historical time period this narrative takes place in, and the author’s writing really did an amazing job of bringing these settings to life, especially the cold winters of Minnesota as the story first began. The personal character developments the author crafted really played well into the narrative, creating a heart and passion for which the reader was able to connect to the story in an intimate way.
This is the perfect read for those who enjoy historical fiction, especially those which hone in on personal family drama, and the story of an immigrant’s journey. As a fan of historical time periods within a fictional setting, I was thrilled to read the author’s story and found the characters inviting and personally-driven, capturing perfectly the time period, the era, and the setting.
Atmospheric, engaging, and thoughtful in its delivery, author Richard H. Grabmeier’s Peter Olaf: The New World Order at Last is a must-read historical fiction novel. The author perfectly captured the amazement, survival, and pursuit of dreams aspects of the immigration story in Peter Olaf’s narrative. The honesty and depth of emotions the author infuses into the narrative and the character’s decisions will have readers hanging off of the author’s every word.