I am writing to say that, for e, this title was a DNF. I was very interested in it based on the description, and have read lots of fiction set during reconstruction, but it wasn't what I'd expected. I don't know if it will make sense, but it felt like a melancholic John Wayne movie.

It’s a promise Arthur Delaney made, he made his wife, Mary, a promise before she died to protect their children, and this book is his punishing journey!

“If we don’t blame God, then who do we blame?”

He failed to keep his promise, although I think he wanted to break it! No, I haven't stone heart but for god's sake, if you had a promise to keep children safe, why on earth should convinced that put his three young in an orphanage, think its better for them and the worst part is here, join the Union Army, for what, fight in someone else battle?!

You might think I am angry now, but my friends may know it better, I'm sad, very desperate and heartbroken for making the wrong decisions made that caused a lifetime regred.

The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney is about being the constant companion of guilt, the sorrowful and shaking story. In addition to the 18 years of perplexity, the tale of Arthur's children, Jimmy, Robina and Annie also are told in different timelines, which so hurting and heartache.

“It took me years to learn that blame is a hard rule to live by.”

Thanks to ECW Press via Netgalley for ARC, I have given my honest review.

Arthur Delaney decides to place his three children Jimmy, Robina and Annie in the Children’s Refuge and Aid home in Halifax after his wife passes away. Arthur joins the Union Army, he’s taken prisoner and spends three years in a Confederate prisoner of war camp.

After having time to reflect on the choices he’s made, Arthur wants to find his children and he has no idea that they have been sold as indentured servants. Arthur has to earn money any way he can to be able to make his way back to Halifax and the only work available is manual labor. When he finally arrives at the orphanage, it’s empty and he discovers it’s been relocated to a farm in Nova Scotia. Of course his children are long gone, initially the two girls were together and his son was working on a farm.

Arthur Delaney wearing his battered Union Army kepi begins the twenty year odyssey traveling across Canada trying to find his children, he has a tattered old photograph of his family taken just before his wife died, he shows this to people, hoping someone might remember seeing them and he follows up on any leads.

I received a copy of The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney by Bob Kroll from NetGalley and ECW Press in exchange for an honest review. It’s a heartbreaking tale about Arthur having to make the difficult decision to put his children in an orphanage when his wife died, how could he work and look after them? Arthur has no idea what was going to happen in the future, he makes it his personal quest to find them, he never gives up and it’s a story about hope and hindsight. Four stars from me, it reminded me of the movie The Searchers (without the Indians) and I recommend reading this Canadian historical saga.

A book of regret with great storytelling…, Devastated at his wife’s death and stricken at raising two girls and a boy on his own, Arthur Delaney places his children in a Halifax orphanage and runs off to join the Union Army in the American Civil War. The trauma of battle and three years in a disease-ridden prisoner-of-war prison changes his perspective on life and family.
After the war, Delaney odd-jobs his way up the American east coast and catches a schooner to Halifax. There he discovers the orphanage has relocated to a farm in rural Nova Scotia. His children are not there. They and others had been sold and resold as farm workers and house servants through the Maritime provinces, as well as Quebec and Ontario. Their whereabouts is unknown. Arthur Delaney sets out on a punishing 20-year journey across Canada to find them. Recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A strong opening line for a review, but the first chapter of this book is possibly the worst chapter one of any book i have read.

It felt messy, wooden and oddly structured with such a weird flow, and I honestly don't understand it because from there onwards everything was on the up.

Stick with it. The punishing journey is literally the most accurate of titles. Off the back of what for me was a bad start, we are pretty swiftly thrust into this journey that is not just one journey, its four separate and lengthy journeys. each of which is detailed, sad and extremely moving.

Reminiscent of other books set in the same time period, it is easy to draw some similarities(in content, not style/plagiarism), which just adds to the accuracy of the feel for the setting.

This was a one sitting read for me, and I found myself relishing where the story went and looked forward to what the conclusion would bring.

What a moving story. Beautifully written and the story and characters stay with you long after you finish it. The first book for me to read by this author but definitely not my last! Highly recommend!

All I wish for is a good story well-told and The Punishing Journey of Arthur Delaney by Bob Kroll delivered that magnificently.

Arthur Delaney didn't think he was able to raise his three children after his wife died so he allowed himself to succumb to religious/righteous pleas to fight for the Union Army - and to place his three children into the care of an orphanage owner. The war and three years in a prisoner-of-war prison changed his outlook on life and his opinion about raising his children. When released, Delaney set out to find his children, restore his family, and make things right again. The orphanage owner, though, had indentured the children as farm workers and house servants. And as they had been sold on to other farms and households around Canada, his children's locations are unknown. Arthur Delaney begins a 20 year journey/adventure throughout Canada's eastern and maritime provinces, chasing down rumours and information to find his children,

The book could easily have been called The Adventures and Psychological Torment of Arthur Delaney and while a lot of the book focuses on the interesting characters and settings of the journey, the author manages to keep Delaney's torment/self-punishment and the goal of finding his children at the core of the story.

The writing is easy to read and flows well. The reader is given a clear sense of the simplicity of living conditions and the harsh climate in eastern Canada in the late 1800s as well as the economic struggle experienced by most. It was a relatively short/quick read and the author could well have enriched the story by telling us more about each of the three children's struggles, initially in the orphanage and then in their respective placements. And maybe more of the orphanage owner's story and the motivations behind her decisions. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was fully absorbed by both the story and the writing. I certainly came to care enough about the characters to want a happy ending.

Lingering notes: A few days after finishing the book I'm still left with a clear feeling of the hard life experienced post Civil War, the lack of gratitude for the sacrifices made by Delaney, and his tenacity to continue the search to apologise and make things right for his family.