Jane Kirkpatrick writes novels based on historical fact, and A Light in the Wilderness is her latest offering in this genre. Jane does her research and writes a truthful, yet imaginative account in this biographical novel.
Letiticia is a pre-war freed slave and midwife. When the family she works for gets to the point they want a slave rather than a paid worker, she joins up with Davey Carson as partner. A couple of years later, they take off on the Oregon trail with her cow, Charity, and an agreement that Davey will pay her as an employee because they could not be married.
Jane has accurately described the hardships of the Oregon Trail, settling in a new place and carving out a home for themselves, and Letiticia's struggles after Davey dies. I have not liked this book as much as others of Jane's that I have read, and this is why: in some places she does a fine job with moving the story along, and in others, she glides past great amounts of time and it makes the story seem a bit disjointed. There are some relationships that I would have liked to have seen developed a bit more. It is a good, entertaining novel, worth four stars.
This novel was provided to me by Revell in exchange for my honest review. No compensation was given and my opinions are my own. l
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