Helpful Score: 5
I have read this book 3 x's over 35 years. It is one of the best books I've read regarding how it really was for women as settlers on the prairies. It is a very different take on the tragedies of their lives and the characters and their struggles are very real. It is easy to understand why so many women didn't survive mentally.
Helpful Score: 3
Life was hard for men settling the west, but it was even harder for women, children and families. Some women reached the limits of their endurance and lost their minds as a result. The Homesman tells the story of a small comunity that engaged a 'Homesman' to escort several unfortunate women to their families back in the eastern states. Mary Bee Cuddy, school teacher, 'plain as an old tin pail', is the 'Homesman' for her small community. For help on her jouney, she engages a 'lowlife army deserter' she manages to rescue from hanging.
Tail of hardships of the trail as well as personal loneliness and overwhelming isolation that lead to unexpected and unfortunate outcomes. This well-written and intriguing novel portrays vivid characters and western life in an unusual story. Not a romance nor a typical western.
Tail of hardships of the trail as well as personal loneliness and overwhelming isolation that lead to unexpected and unfortunate outcomes. This well-written and intriguing novel portrays vivid characters and western life in an unusual story. Not a romance nor a typical western.
