Helpful Score: 5
As the descendant of a woman who crossed with the Martin Handcart company I found this book so factual it was if I was reading from my ancestor's journal. Although fiction this book tells of some of the same types of situations that my ancestor wrote about.
The author has done remarkable research in order to accurately detail the hardships these emigrants encountered and more importantly what kept them putting one foot in front of the other.
This is a book you will not want to put down. It held me spellbound as I read it. While not a rosy happy ever after story, you will need tissues, it is the story that tells a portion of our country's history.
The author has done remarkable research in order to accurately detail the hardships these emigrants encountered and more importantly what kept them putting one foot in front of the other.
This is a book you will not want to put down. It held me spellbound as I read it. While not a rosy happy ever after story, you will need tissues, it is the story that tells a portion of our country's history.
Helpful Score: 3
Sandra Dallas is the queen of storytelling and her newest work, True Sisters, is no exception. True Sisters follows the Martin Handcart Company. Brigham Young encouraged all of his followers to come to the Zion, a place in Salt Lake City, Utah where they will settle. The perfect way for the Mormon's to travel the thirteen hundred plus miles is by walking, using a handcart to carry their essentials.
Many Latter Day Saints crossed oceans to go to the promised land, and they converged to travel together across the states. True Sisters tells the story of many of the women and their families and what they endure as they travel the thirteen hundred miles. Through hardships, the sisters keep one another sane and help them through their tragedies and their triumphs. They keep their faith and although they may question the new polygamy rule.
The reader comes to know Jessie, a hardworking farmer and her two brothers, as they hope to build a successful farm in the new lands. Anne, who is Gentile, not believing in the faith, but following her husband, who is a devout Mormon. Nannie and Ellie, true sisters, and Ellie's husband Andrew, as well as Maude, an older woman, whose mid-wife and doctoring skills become a valued commodity on the trip.
Based on a true story, I was enraptured in these women's lives from the first page. The strength of these women really shines through, as well as their heartbreak and their faith. From starving near to death to freezing in the snow-covered mountains, they test their faith and their choices. Beautifully written, I highly recommend it!
Many Latter Day Saints crossed oceans to go to the promised land, and they converged to travel together across the states. True Sisters tells the story of many of the women and their families and what they endure as they travel the thirteen hundred miles. Through hardships, the sisters keep one another sane and help them through their tragedies and their triumphs. They keep their faith and although they may question the new polygamy rule.
The reader comes to know Jessie, a hardworking farmer and her two brothers, as they hope to build a successful farm in the new lands. Anne, who is Gentile, not believing in the faith, but following her husband, who is a devout Mormon. Nannie and Ellie, true sisters, and Ellie's husband Andrew, as well as Maude, an older woman, whose mid-wife and doctoring skills become a valued commodity on the trip.
Based on a true story, I was enraptured in these women's lives from the first page. The strength of these women really shines through, as well as their heartbreak and their faith. From starving near to death to freezing in the snow-covered mountains, they test their faith and their choices. Beautifully written, I highly recommend it!
Helpful Score: 1
First the positive. This book reads like a diary, true to life, the journey West was usually decided by the men and most difficult on the women. I have spent time with religious groups, for whom Biblical mandate for the husband to be leader the home is a main doctrine. For some men it is an excuse to be domineering and difficult, somehow neglecting the rest of the Biblical explanation; but for others there was a caring and gentleness that was a witness in itself. I think that Dallas handled both possibilities fairly.
With this said, though, I find it difficult not to sum up this book as one long dissertation on how many ways a person can die or be maimed traveling by foot across the country.
With this said, though, I find it difficult not to sum up this book as one long dissertation on how many ways a person can die or be maimed traveling by foot across the country.
