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Book Review of The Good Journey: A Novel

The Good Journey: A Novel
reviewed on + 3389 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


This is perhaps one of the most intense historical fiction novels I have read in a long time. It is so well-written, that I keep glancing through my Native American Indian history books to gather more information about Black Hawke and General Henry Atkinson. This novel really has renewed my interest in Native American history.
Mary Bullitt agrees to marry General Henry Atkinson after knowing him one day. She moves from Louisville, Kentucky, to St. Lois ~~ at that time, a frontier-town in what was known as the West. This novel is based on Mary's journals. It is also a novel rich in details of life in the early 1800s to the mid-1800s. It also explores the question of Indian rights that were being violated at the time and other people's misconception of the Indian Wars.

Mary and her General kept me riveted through the pages and transported me back to the early beginnings of this country. It reminds me of man's greed ~~ to conquer all he sees and how others fight it. It brought me to the realization that life was tenous during those times ~~ as well as being more intense as well. The scenery descriptions and actual lifestyle habits of the times are so well-researched, that I actually felt like I was there as an observer.

This is a beautifully-written novel ~~ one to keep in your personal library. If you know of someone who is tenative about reading historical novels, start with this one. It is a guarantee to bring history alive in the reader's mind.