1876 Wyoming. Life on the frontier was hard and for the Bemis and Webber families very isolated. Maybe that was why one man started an affair with the other man's wife. There was very little warmth anyway in Substance and Nettie Mae's marriage in the first place but when he was killed by Bemis, Nettie Mae felt that she was done wronged by and hated Cora Bemis with a vengeance.
What started out as bitter enmity, had to be put aside when circumstances forced the two families to live together for pure survival. With limited resources of both food and warmth and lack of labour to handle two farms the two eldest children, both teenagers decided to come together to just survive the hard winter ahead.
The story of the two women, trying hard to adjust, Cora being submissive to Nettie Mae as she was the offender. Netti Mae biting back her hatred because of the weakness of her son, knowing that he needs the Bemis family support to survive is a story of tolerance, hard work and just getting on with life, however hard it seems to be.
When a romance builds up between the two teenagers, the entire story is out of the mother's hands and the next step forward is taken in reconciliation and getting to grips with family.
A tough story, very well told.
Sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Lake Union Publishing.
That sounds like a unique story - I wonder if it was based on a true story.
ReplyDeleteI’m quite intrigued by your review this sounds like an interesting family drama
ReplyDelete