Dianna Rostad Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Dianna Rostad is a historical fiction novelist that made her name with the publishing of the best selling novel “You Belong Here Now.”
The author was born and brought up in the Pacific Northwest, where her parents moved to from the farms of Arkansas and the ranches of Montana.
As a married woman, she has three children and she decided to become an author when they were old enough to spread their wings and leave the nest.
In 2009, she attended the Writer’s Path Program at Southern Methodist University. What she loves best about writing is the research and discovery of places and people in which she usually sets her novels.

In order to track down the artifact of history and breathe hope, truth and life into her novels, she travels extensively in the United States and across the world.

Rostad currently makes her home in Florida from where she writes her stories.

The first novel that Dianna Rostad remembers reading as a child was “James and the Giant Peach.” As for what would make him want to grow up and become an author, she read so many over the years that she cannot point to one.

However, she found inspiration for her debut novel “You Belong Here Now” from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” her favorite novel of all time.

She intended to write a classic story that shook all the bones in the closet and she just did that. As such, Dianna was always a great reader and in 2006 or thereabouts she started thinking of becoming a professional author.

It was not long before she started reading literary fiction. During this time, she formed a writer critique group, took creative writing courses, read Publishers Marketplace and attended all manner of writer conferences.

She has asserted that the thing she loves about writing is that she can create and live in any type of world she wants.

The inspiration for Dianna Rostad’s novel “You Belong Here Now” came to her when she read a CNN article on orphans several years earlier.

She was shocked that she never learned about such things when she was in school and even more astounded to discover nobody had written anything about it.
While she used to read Lord Byron during this time her real passion came when her father came back home. He came with pictures of ancient family farms in Montana with stories and anecdotes scrawled on the back. It opened a huge wide world as the characters started coming into place.

She had also once worked in South Central Los Angeles dealing with youthful offenders that had been involved in the riots. These were broken children who still had hope just like the ones in her novel.

While she finally managed to publish her novel in 2021, it was not an easy journey. She had to overcome a lot of insecurity and incredulity from family and friends. Rostad also found it hard to continue pouring resources and writing time into the endeavor even as people kept asking when it would be done.
Ultimately the faith she had in herself and her tenacity paired with caffeined paid off.

Dianna Rostad’s novel “You Belong Here Now” is set in 1925 Montana AND introduces three brave orphans. They are taking the Orphan Train west from New York as they hope to find a place they can call home.

They include a volatile young man who is the eldest of the bunch, a tiny girl who speaks very little and an Irish boy whose parents died of the Spanish Flu.
They chase the sun westward, journeying countless miles as they are paraded all across the Midwest. Before they arrive at the last stop, Charles the eldest talk SOpala and Patrick into jumping off the train.

The two journey through the grassy mountains and the Yellowstone River where wild horses run wild. Fate leads the three orphans towards the family of a family mourning a grievous loss.

At the farm is Nara, a brusque spinster that is the only child left of the family of a once successful ranch. She has over the years worked hard to be respected by her father and hopes that he will one day leave the day to day running to her.

If the orphans stay, they may threaten her dreams and as such she works them to the bone as she believes this will make them run away. But it is not long before she becomes appreciative of their hard work and starts seeing many of her attributes in them.

When one of the kids is accused and sentenced to hang, Nara protects him with every fiber of her being.