WHAT I'M READING: CAROLINE: LITTLE HOUSE, REVISITED by Sarah Miller (2018/1)

2018 book one.
I have finally gotten back into reading.  And this book was the one that got me back.



Summary:

In this novel authorized by Little House Heritage Trust, Sarah Miller vividly recreates the beauty, hardship, and joys of the frontier in a dazzling work of historical fiction, a captivating story that illuminates one courageous, resilient, and loving pioneer woman as never before--Caroline Ingalls, "Ma" in Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved Little House books.

In the frigid days of February, 1870, Caroline Ingalls and her family leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin and the warm bosom of her family, for a new life in Kansas Indian Territory. Packing what they can carry in their wagon, Caroline, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril.

The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. The burden of work must be shouldered alone, sickness tended without the aid of doctors, and babies birthed without the accustomed hands of mothers or sisters. But Caroline's new world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles' hands into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses.

My review:

I absolutely loved this book.  When I saw a review of it on facebook, I just had to look it up.  Once I read the summary I bought it.

I saw it had 31 chapters and thought I would read one chapter a day while I ate breakfast.  Well, that lasted about four days.  I read three chapters at breakfast - just because.  Then I had to see what happened at lunch with another two chapters.  Two days later I was turning off the TV and letting the housework go so that I could read this book.

Let me warn the Little House fans out there, this is NOT a children's book.  You would not want to read it to your little ones.  It is the story of a woman who loves her husband and children with all her heart.  Who is doing her best to make a wilderness into a home.  Who is giving birth in the middle of no where with a strange woman helping her bring the baby into the world.  Of a woman who is missing her parents and siblings but still is determined to make a better world for her family.

The author uses not only Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, but also historical documents and family letters to write her book so it does not follow the familiar story exactly.  There is a section at the end of the book which explains all of this.

I hope that Sarah Miller will write another book about Caroline Ingalls although I doubt she will.  I would love to have her follow them through the next years of their lives.

Kathy