Description
Book SynopsisLamentationsis a novel about the first group of families crossing west to Oregon in 1842, from the perspective of the dozen women on the trip. Although none of these women left a written record of her journey, the company clerk’s daily notations provided documentation of historical events. Based on these records and the author’s own decades of work as a historian, Carol Kammen provides an interpretation of the women’s thoughts and feelings as events played out in and around the wagons heading west.
In this novel the men are in the background—and we hear the women ponder the land, their right to be passing through, their lives and how they are changing, the other people in the company, the Native Americans they encounter, and their changing roles.
Lamentations is about women’s reality as wives or unmarried sojourners, as literate or illiterate observers, and as explorers of the land.
Kammen gives voice to these women as
Trade Review"A superb look at westering women nearly 200 years ago as they accompanied their families into the unknown."—Sandra Dallas,
Denver Post“I firmly believe this is one of the best Western books out there. It’s perfectly timed with today’s realization that women are people too. And the insights are outstanding.”—Melody Groves, author of
She Was Sheriff and contributing editor for
Round Up magazine
Table of ContentsContents
Preface
The 1842 Company of Travelers
Part 1: Starting Out, Looking Back
Part 2: Observing, Marveling
Part 3: Climbing, Descending
Part 4: Getting Through
Part 5: Beginning and Beyond
Debts Owed
