Thriving, book two of Corinne Jeffery's Understanding Ursula series, continues the story<br />of the challenges of the intriguing and contentious Werners, a family of German Lutheran<br />homesteaders on the Saskatchewan prairie. Become reacquainted with their dynamic lives<br />as they try to keep pace with the flourishing new decade and later discover innovative ways<br />to endure the hardships of the Great Depression.<br /><br />With the return of prosperity to the Canadian prairies, Gustav Werner resumes his insatiable<br />quest to acquire more prime farmland. Still, no one is more surprised than he when his<br />hand is forced and his future reshaped by increasing drama and secrets. He wonders why<br />he is persistently entangled in compromising family relationships, and then tragedy, until<br />he begins to doubt his faith. When Mother Nature, in which he has always found peace<br />and solace, too becomes his enemy-sending drought, grasshoppers, hail, and fierce winds<br />that lift the rich topsoil off his land-he starts to despair. Steadily, though, his sorrow and<br />despondency give way to a deepening awareness of his inner strengths and a heightening of<br />his resolve to push onward for all those who count on him.