This book by Sandra Dallas is just the right thing to read after a month of intense reads, including Holocaust-themed The Book Thief and Night. This is the fictional journal of Mattie Spenser, who receives and accepts an impromptu marriage proposal that requires moving from Iowa to the great Colorado Territory. The Civil War has just ended, and Mattie leaves her family and friends behind to follow this man she barely knows to the frontier. She chronicles their homesteading failures and successes, the people they meet in their tiny settlement, and her many heartaches and triumphs. I was willing to suspend my disbelief about all the tragedies that happened to her and her neighbors because I really wanted to. Yes, the novel could be deemed trite and formulaic, as one tragedy follows another and there was a great deal of dramatic foreshadowing. Still, when one's reading has been heavy, it's good to have something light and totally enjoyable (in spite of the tragedies). This is one of those reads. I'm a sucker for a spunky woman pioneer.
1 comment:
I agree with "Still, when one's reading has been heavy, it's good to have something light and totally enjoyable (in spite of the tragedies). This is one of those reads."
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