These Is My Words

Last night, I totally and completely ignored my rather lengthy "to do" list in favor of sitting on the couch and finishing this book. It's one of the most un-put-down-able books I've read in a long, long time.



These Is My Words
by Nancy Turner

A literary blogger I read religiously recommended this book. Normally, my feelings about the American Southwest run anywhere from "disinterest" to "active loathing"---I am not at all a fan of the region---but the blurb on the front of the book sold me. "Jack and Sarah are as delicious a couple as Rhett and Scarlett." (USA Today). Well, okay then, USA Today! Sold! I am a sucker for amazing couples.

The novel is written in the form of diary entries by the protagonist, 17 year old Sarah Agnes Prine. It begins in 1881 as her family's wagon train is traveling from the Arizona territories to Texas, and through Sarah's writing, we learn about the tragedies and joys of pioneer life in a dry, often hostile, yet somehow still beautiful part of the country.

Sarah is a plucky, flawed, and immensely likeable heroine and it's easy to root for her. Her tart common-sense and lack of pretension had me smiling almost every other page, and her immense thirst for learning and knowledge was easy for me to relate to. Her early entries are written in a slightly rougher, vernacular English to reflect her lack of formal education, and as she educates herself (after finding and claiming an abandoned wagon full of books), her entries are written in successively better English. I thought that might be annoying, at first, but I honestly did not even notice it.

Equally appealing is the novel's romantic interest, Captain Jack Elliot of the U.S. Cavalry. I won't say too much about him, since it's such a joy discovering him for yourself in the book, but I think he made it onto my list of top ten literary heroes. There's a passage (fairly PG) wherein he quotes the Song of Solomon to Sarah, and I just about needed a fainting couch to swoon back against.

I won't mince words, this book broke my heart and put it back together more than once, but it's so incredible that it's definitely going on the keeper shelf, and maybe even onto the "run into a burning house for" shelf. And! There are sequels! Now go read it so that we can squeal about it discuss it intelligently.