false 4 0 false false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 17:21:42 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 16:29:16 -0700 2009
Sarah writes of a conversation with her father, "He set his hand on my arm, and said, Girl, there's never any turning back in life. But don't you worry, he says. The Lord is watching over us. Then I felt real hollow and low and mean. If He is a watching us, I wish He'd lend a hand now and then" (12). So many abominable events occur in Sarah's life that it would have been easy for her to detach from life and love, but instead she more fully engages. Sarah may be a settler, but she refuses to settle. She transforms herself from an independent, unpolished, uneducated young lady into an equally independent, accomplished, learned woman.

What really makes Sarah's story unforgettable, however, is the story of the love between Sarah and Jack. The romance is delectable as, having been scarred from her previous loveless marriage, Sarah fights her feelings for army hero Captain Jack Elliot from day one.

The way she expresses her feelings is most humorous with thoughts like, "That man makes me feel like I have my bonnet on backwards" (148). Her dawning realization that Jack's love is forever, deep, and true is moving and authentic. On their wedding night, Jack shows her the healing power of love: "Then he kissed again, And one for the heart, where the wounds are deepest" (216).

This historical frontier novel by Nancy E. Turner is inspired by the life of her great-grandmother in the Arizona territories in the late 19th century. Sarah's story continues in Turner's other works Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden.]]>