These Is My Words

So right now I am reading a novel by Nancy E. Turner titled These Is My Words, The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prime, 1881-1901. I am finding it really interesting. It is about a young woman before the turn of the 20th century. She is a lovable character: tough, naïve, and selfless. You think she deserves only the best while witnessing her go through the worst with the best of attitudes. Many members of her family die or are killed by Indians, some of her girlfriends are raped by outlaws, and she has a loveless marriage. Before her marriage, and at the beginning of the diary, Sarah immediately falls unknowingly in love with Capt. Jack Elliot, who ardently loves her as well. This love story is what keeps me reading, I want her to realize her love so badly while she continues to mistake her love for absolute disgust. So far it is a realistic description of rough living in the late 1800s. It is a good break from the novels about rich Britains, whos only trials are developing a bad reputation.

I would highly suggest this book to anyone. It does have some disturbing parts, but I think that adds to the heart of the story telling.

Not too much of the novel is introspective, but the parts that are, are golden.
"Sometimes I feel like a tree on a hill, at the place where all the wind blows and the hail hits the hardest. All the people I love are down the side aways, sheltered under a great rock, and I am out of the fold, standing alone in the sun and the snow." p. 152