Hetty's Strange History

by Helen Hunt Jackson

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2008

About the author

People know American writer Helen Maria Fiske Hunt Jackson for Ramona (1884), a romantic novel concerning the injustices that Native Americans suffered.

This author, an activist for rights, wrote best about the ill treatment in southern California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_H...

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realize that I had expressed no real urgency to read any more of Hunt Jackson’s fiction after having completed Mercy Philbrick’s Choice. But this book was obtainable via Google, I had nothing else readily available to read, and I had some free time. So, I started and found it engaging.

HSH was similar to MPC and Ramona in some respects. First, it was also a romantic love story. Second, its finely tuned observations of human nature and relationships written in what was at times a lyrical prose made for interesting and deep character development. As the story unfolded I found myself caring about these people, particularly Hetty and her husband Eben. Some of the lesser characters were nicely drawn as well.

One difference was that the town and surrounding area were not as lavishly described as was the case in the other two novels of hers which I have read. Rather than detract from the story, however, I found that lesser detail meant this one moved along at a faster pace. And I still had a reasonable sense of what life was like for people in those days.

There was one other, more significant difference, however: the ending of the book felt contrived. It was a bit disappointing after such care seemed to have been taken to develop the storyline up until then. It is for this reason that I gave the book a 3 star rating. A different, more carefully crafted, and believable conclusion would have led me to give it a 4 star rating.

Now that my time in the coming days will be occupied with other things to read I really will not peruse another one of Hunt Jackson’s novels for awhile. But I probably will again when I find myself casting about for something to read on Google books. She was a talented storyteller. MPC or HSH could make for an entertaining, period piece TV miniseries someday.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This came as part of a trio of books on kindle by the author. I bought the first and two came with that one.

A strange tale but a readable story.

A very odd decision made by the main character that leads to consequences she didn't anticipate .