Widow 1881
by Sara Dahmen
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GENRE: Women's Historical Pioneer Fiction
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BLURB:
Boston widow Jane Weber moves to the Dakota Territories to save her respectability but finds her
proper views challenged every step. Rooming with the last Blackfoot Sioux in Flats Junction and
navigating a mercurial friendship with the fiercely independent town grocer leaves Jane reeling as
she stumbles to understand the town folk and the unwritten rules of the west in 1881. Everyone has a
story, including Jane herself and her unpredictable physician employer.
proper views challenged every step. Rooming with the last Blackfoot Sioux in Flats Junction and
navigating a mercurial friendship with the fiercely independent town grocer leaves Jane reeling as
she stumbles to understand the town folk and the unwritten rules of the west in 1881. Everyone has a
story, including Jane herself and her unpredictable physician employer.
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Excerpt Two:
Suppose it is not real. I have not yet felt the quickening. It is early yet – too early to really discuss it.
For this employer to know, when my lover had not and my husband could not, feels as if I am exposing
my private bedroom to a stranger.
For this employer to know, when my lover had not and my husband could not, feels as if I am exposing
my private bedroom to a stranger.
Terror shoots into me. I hadn’t wanted him to find out! Not so soon and not like this! Damn the Widow!
I’d asked her not to speak! Now he will send me back home to be a widowed mother alone in the
quietness of my parents’ house and the sharp stigma of the loose widow. No one back east will truly
believe the child is Henry’s. They might think I went wild in the west.
I’d asked her not to speak! Now he will send me back home to be a widowed mother alone in the
quietness of my parents’ house and the sharp stigma of the loose widow. No one back east will truly
believe the child is Henry’s. They might think I went wild in the west.
No one knows me here. There is some safety in it, and I must convince him to let me stay. And I must
tell him the same lie. There’s no other way. Everyone here in Flats Junction must think I was as
married and settled as I say. And the Doctor too – what would he think having hired such a loose
woman? The shame of my brief, quick desire for Theodore, and the self-loathing I carry rises up and
tries to choke me. The Doctor walks away from me, fuming and vibrating with anger and I feel I must
follow him to hear my fate.
tell him the same lie. There’s no other way. Everyone here in Flats Junction must think I was as
married and settled as I say. And the Doctor too – what would he think having hired such a loose
woman? The shame of my brief, quick desire for Theodore, and the self-loathing I carry rises up and
tries to choke me. The Doctor walks away from me, fuming and vibrating with anger and I feel I must
follow him to hear my fate.
My heart is beating slowly, pulsing with each step. Will I faint? Will I be able to hold my head to his
and beg him? Can I spit out the story I’ve told myself so often that it almost feels true? And will he
believe it?
and beg him? Can I spit out the story I’ve told myself so often that it almost feels true? And will he
believe it?
My Review: 5*
I really enjoyed this book. It is not what I normally read but maybe I should change that. The book to me read almost like a diary. It was written in first person. You really got to know Jane Weber, all of her thoughts and feelings were really laid out. A few times I even had a tear in my eye. Sara Dahmen has done a wonderful job with this story. It really jumped off the pages. Her descriptions were very lifelike but yet there wasn't so much description that I got bored or skipped paragraphs. I really enjoyed the book and the setting.
Bostonian Jane Weber is recently widowed at a young age. Her marriage was not one filled with love or lust, it was more like a quiet friendship. After her husbands passing Jane wanted to get a taste of passion and during that brief moment she later finds herself to be pregnant. With her husband being dead and the father of the child being out of the picture, Jane decides to take a job as housekeeper to a Doctor in the Wild West to keep her secret.
After loosing her baby, nearly dying, falling for the Doctor then convincing to court another woman, Jane decides to head back east, and deal with her broken heart. Now the questions are: Will she change her mind and go back West? Will she meet someone new and start a new life? Will the Doctor come after her? Read the book and find out!!
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sara Dahmen is a metalsmith of vintage and modern cookware and manufactures pure metal
kitchenware in tin, copper and iron. She is the owner and operator of House Copper &
Housekeeper Crockery: American-made cookware created with pure and/or organic materials
featured in Food and Wine and Root + Bone magazines, among others. She has published over
100 articles as a contributing editor for Veil Magazine and writes for many book and review blogs.
She has spoken at TEDx Rapid City in 2016, speaks across the country at multiple writer conferences
such as the Writer’s Institute and RWA Nationals, and co-chairs the Port Washington Literary Festival
since its inception in 2013. Prior to her writing gigs, Sara was a print, radio and TV producer before
owning and operating a nationally award-winning event planning company for ten years. When not
writing or sewing authentic clothing for 1830’s reenactments, she can be found hitting tin and copper
at her apprenticeship with a master tinsmith, reading the Economist or hanging out with her husband
and three young children.
kitchenware in tin, copper and iron. She is the owner and operator of House Copper &
Housekeeper Crockery: American-made cookware created with pure and/or organic materials
featured in Food and Wine and Root + Bone magazines, among others. She has published over
100 articles as a contributing editor for Veil Magazine and writes for many book and review blogs.
She has spoken at TEDx Rapid City in 2016, speaks across the country at multiple writer conferences
such as the Writer’s Institute and RWA Nationals, and co-chairs the Port Washington Literary Festival
since its inception in 2013. Prior to her writing gigs, Sara was a print, radio and TV producer before
owning and operating a nationally award-winning event planning company for ten years. When not
writing or sewing authentic clothing for 1830’s reenactments, she can be found hitting tin and copper
at her apprenticeship with a master tinsmith, reading the Economist or hanging out with her husband
and three young children.
Websites:
Blog:
Twitter: @saradahmenbooks
Instagram: @housecrockery
Buy link unavailable but can be found through websites above
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION :
Sara Dahmen will be awarding a set of American-made pure maple wooden spoons from the author's
kitchenware line (www.housekeepercrockery.com), valued at $60 (international) to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
kitchenware line (www.housekeepercrockery.com), valued at $60 (international) to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed the tour. The book sounds great.
ReplyDeleteOh My! I can't wait to read this! I think this will be a great book. (jozywails@gmail.com)
ReplyDelete