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| Category: Fiction |
(requires Adobe Reader)
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| About the Book | |
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In the year 1880, Alice, a white women, witnesses an Indian woman being wrongly put to death by her husband, the chief. The commotion Alice makes over this injustice causes her husband to chastise her severely in front of their ranch hands. Her husband departs with the workers providing a chance for Alice to go back and rescue the Indian woman. She realizes that she has chosen to leave him. She knows that she wouldn't have made the decision if it hadn't been for trying to save the Indian woman's life; and perforce her own from an abusive marriage. Unable to understand the rescued woman's name, Alice calls her Sarah. Alice and Sarah load a wagon and join a cattle drive to obliterate their tracks and to provide protection. Instead, they discover the danger of two women traveling alone. The women find a family that is desperately in need of help. The husband has died and his wife, Lizzie, is having a baby. Sarah delivers the black-haired baby and Lizzie names the baby Sarah in gratitude. Alice and Sarah decide to stay on to avoid traveling in the winter and because Lizzie needs help caring for the children. Alice obtains a teaching position and is able to bring in a salary until a tragedy happens keeping her from working. The family, once again, is struggling to survive. Alice and Sarah are forced to leave the new house acquired through Sarah's marriage. A twister has devastated the town leading to Sarah's husband being killed and Alice being raped. Adding to that, the Director of Indian Affairs has been inquiring about Sarah and the two women must flee to protect her. The same wagon that carried them across the prairies is now carrying them to the mountains. They meet a fur trapper upon whom they begin to depend and who ends up depending upon them. Alice has discovered she's pregnant and they ask the trapper to come home with them so Alice can have her baby with the family. The town is still suffering from the destruction of the twister and the family does what it can to rebuild. Because of this, Alice meets a man who sees that she is having difficulty accepting her new, black-haired baby. The baby has no name and it's the man who tells her that it's all right that she hasn't named the baby; that she will when she's ready. He finds out about the rape and marries Alice to support her and to give the baby love. Sarah learns that her own child, whom she thought had died, is still alive. She is determined to go and find him even though the danger of doing so is great. She leaves after the family has loaded the wagon with provisions and mostly with hope that the same wagon will carry her home. The family evolves despite layer upon layer of hardships; but always with an undercurrent of love which speaks without words.
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| About the Author | |
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In a cold, Arkansas tent, midwifed by her uncle, Du Sharboneau was born in 1927. The family migrated to California working as they went and settled in San Rafael. After five children and a divorce, she became a teacher. Remarrying, she gained another five children. Now retired, she writes. |