Praise from Readers

kept me riveted

I loved this book SO much that I hated to finish it.  I miss the wonderful characters who absolutely came to life on the pages.  Every spare moment I had, I grabbed it to read more.  It is that captivating!  Not a predictable story in the least; there are unexpected twists, heartbreaking losses and turns that kept me riveted.  This is one book that I will read again and again.

Mimi, Amazon

 

 

The story made me think, and it made me cry.

The story made me think, and it made me cry several times.  I thought the women’s experiences on the trail were wonderfully done, their feelings and thoughts as well as their actions.  The men’s characters and thoughts were captured with complexity, too.

Judy Lightfoot, Washington

 

 

intriguing and inspirational

I found this book to be intriguing and inspirational.  The characters are vivid, as are the hardships that they endure.  I could not put this book down.  The sad moments are unbelievably touching, and the happy moments brought tears of joy to my eyes.

A Customer, Amazon

 

 

I loved this book.

You are invited to experience along with the different characters, their thoughts, fears, doubts, angers, resentments, and secrets.  You’ll discover right away that the women who walked along beside the men, drove oxen, sang, toiled, gave birth, and died had inner strengths buried deep within their souls that they didn’t even know they had.  I loved this book.

Judy L., Amazon

 

 

great beauty and emotion

Sickels writes with great beauty and emotion, a simple story with complex feelings and outcomes.  The pioneers’ triumphs and tragedies are our own, and we cheer them along and cry for them in turn.  This is a magnificent book.

Madge Walls, Amazon

 

 

The diary entries were wonderful.

I gobbled up this book.  The physical descriptions of place were so clear that I felt I was there with the characters, and the doors were opened into their thoughts as well.  The diary entries were wonderful.

Kathleen Worley, Oregon

 

 

character development is amazing

Even though it’s been a few weeks since I put the book down, there are so many things from it that are still popping into my head randomly --- one of the sure signs of great writing, in my opinion.  The character development is amazing, especially with so many of them, and it’s so easy to connect with each one in so many different ways.  I got so wrapped up in the story, I ended up doing a lot of crying!

Annie Carmona, Wisconsin

 

 

I am awaiting a sequel.

I really enjoyed this book.  There was not a single part in the entire book that I was bored.  It took off and historically rendered a phenomenon that has not been written about enough: the woman’s impact on the westward movement.  I am awaiting a sequel.

Dana Shull, Amazon

 

 

This is a history one can believe in.

It is truly hard to isolate one passage in this book that stands out more than the rest, for there is so much fine writing here.  This is a history one can believe in.  What’s more this is a book for women ravenous for self-images.  Alice is full-bodied, courageous, intelligent, and, amazingly, in love with a husband who does what no other literary figure has ever done: he takes time to make love to his wife, to do what pleases her.  There is an amazing cast of characters, but this is not a book about character alone; this is also a book about place as well.  The West is truly the frontier land and still is, and this book captures that feel of endless space, and loneliness, and beauty.

A Customer, Amazon

 

​All photography is the original work of Annie Carmona and cannot be copied or reproduced without permission.