Young Magdalena (Maggie) Chabert has come across the plains to live in Provo. During the trip, she lost her parents and baby sister, so she and her younger sister Giovanna have been taken in by the Alden family, where they have been cared for during the past 4 years.

Then, Maggie starts to have startling dreams. She's seeing visions which, from what she hears, may actually be true. When she has her most disturbing dream yet, she knows she must find out the truth. But will it destroy her, or set her free?

Although this book is quite different from anything I have ever read, I still found it enjoyable. Maggie is a nice protagonist. She is a bit headstrong and proud, but I feel like most everyone who lived during the pioneer days was--or, they had to be. She is also fiercely protective of her little sister, which I can relate to, being the oldest of 3 siblings.

Since this book is set back in the 1800's, the language and style did take some getting used to for me. But once I did, I found it refreshingly different. Not too many books I read regularly use the words "reckon" and "confound it." (There were also several typos and grammatical errors that made reading stilted sometimes--but as the copy I read was a NetGalley ARC, I'm not sure if the book will be edited before distribution.)

What I really liked the most about this book was the sense of community. Back in those days, everyone relied on everyone else just to get by. If you had anything extra, you shared with those who had none and you didn't think anything of it. I know our modern world would be a much better place if this was still the attitude mankind adopted towards our neighbors.

There wasn't much action in this book, but there was a bit of suspense. I also was rather taken aback by the twist at the end--I definitely didn't see it coming, and I enjoy that in a book.

This book would be a great read for anyone who wants to escape into the past for a while--I'm not even really sure if it could strictly be classified as a Young Adult book. I think readers of all ages could take something from this book.