Merrill Krause has been taking care of her father and four brothers for ten years since her mother died. She works right along beside the men dressed in masculine attire which is a problem for the women in the town but does not bother Merrill at all. The Icecutter's Daughter Tracie Peterson Bethany House March 2013 The Icecutter’s Daughter by Tracie Peterson is a wonderful story and a great addition to the list of other great stories by Tracie. Merrill Krause is almost twenty-one years old and has been taking care of her father and four brothers for ten years since her mother died. Her mother’s dying request was that she would look after the men of the family. She works right beside the men doing whatever job needs to be done on the farm and dresses in trousers and other men’s clothing. In fact, she is better at working with the Belgian horses than the men. Merrill has done an excellent job but in the process she has become what many consider a very unladylike woman, and many just cannot get past her wearing of men’s trousers to see the outstanding woman that she has become. Rurik Jorgenson comes to visit his uncle and help in his furniture building business and enjoys the work. town, and people so much that he decides to make his visit permanent. He is immediately drawn to Merrill but she cannot accept the fact that such a handsome man would be interested in her. Add Svea,the sister of Rurik’s best friend, into the mix and the story get more interesting and suspenseful page by page. Tracie did an excellent job with the characters making them come to life on the pages of the book and also making the reader either love them or greatly dislike them. The scenes were so well written that I was right there in the middle of all the action that was taking place. There were numerous surprises in the plot and it also had a great deal of suspense. It was evident that the author did a good deal of research before writing the book and all the history that she included made the book not only enjoyable but increased knowledge of the area and what was happening at the time. I had often wondered where people in the late nineteenth century obtained ice. As with all her books, Tracie kept God prominent in the lives of most of the characters and throughout the book one saw the love and forgiveness of God portrayed. I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes a great story. And if you are already a Tracie Peterson fan then you will definitely want to read this book.