The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas

I love Sandra Dallas' books.  Not only do they entertain me, keep me interested, and make me not want to stop reading, they also make me want to learn more about the places, people, time periods, and items.  In The Bride's House, I found myself Googling Molybdenum at 1:00 a.m.  Maybe I'm the only one who has never heard of molybdenum, but if you don't know what it is, it makes steel more steely.  But I digress.

The Bride's House is the story of 16 year old Nealie Bent, who in 1880 runs away from an abusive father and ends up in the mining town of Georgetown, Colorado. Nealie loves being on her own and away from her father and is working and living  in a boarding house where her job is feeding the men who work in the mines.   At the boarding house Nealie meets, and is courted by two men; a miner named Charlie Dumas, and Will Spaulding, a young man sent by his wealthy grandfather to learn the business from the ground up.  '

Nealie's daughter, Pearl, falls in love with a young man who does not have the approval of her father.  He sabotages their plan to marry and sends Pearl's suitor away and lets Pearl think that he bought him off.  Pearl's relationship with her father flounders, but she is strong and when she gets a second chance at happiness, she jumps at it.

In 1950, 18 year old Susan is spending the summer at The Bride's House and falls in love with Joe. As time goes on she learns first hand of the strength of the women who came before her and the lies and secrets hidden at The Bride's House. 

True Sisters by Sandra Dallas

Sandra Dallas writes stories that touch the heart of the reader.  True Sisters is a story that will stick with me for a long time.  Not only did it touch my heart, but it made me angry, and caused me to think about how lucky we are to live in this period of time.

True Sisters is the tale of four women who found themselves on a 1300 mile trek across the United States to get to the Promised Land.  They were promised this land by Mormon missionaries who traveled to England and Scotland to convert people and get them to join the LDS church.  The families gave up everything to travel to Utah, including most of their money and in return they were given a two wheeled hand cart which they had to pull and push the whole way and if they resisted they were taunted and called unbelievers, unworthy of a place in God's Kingdom..

Based on the true story of the Martin Company, a group who arrived in America a little too late in the year to start the trek, then found that the handcarts were not built, the wood was green, and provisions were a bit sparse. They also were told they only were allowed a small amount of personal provisions and had to dispose of many of their treasures they had brought from home.

The Mormon men, for the most part, disgusted me.  However, it's possible that part of my disgust is coming from a person who grew up in the 1960s. 

Tallgrass

What an amazing read, Sandra Dallas does it again.

Up until yesterday I thought The Persian Pickle Club was my favorite book by one of my favorite authors, but Tallgrass is a five star read. Set in the mid 1940s, it is the story of an internment camp for Japanese Americans in Colorado seen through the eyes of 12 year old Bennnie. Bennie's family farm is on the border of Tallgrass, the internment camp and Bennie's father hire a few of the boys from the camp to work on the sugar beet farm.

Amazing, a must read. After reading this book, I want to learn more about the camps/prisons that citizens of the United States were made to endure because of rampant bigotry and fear.

On another note, I had to unknit about 10 rows of my Jaywalkers. I love the pattern, but it sure is difficult to fix my numerous mistakes.