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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber


Maggie Dana

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Blurb from back of book:

 

It is 1917 in the South Dakota Badlands and the summer has been hard. Fourteen years have passed since Rachel and Isaac DuPree left Chicago to stake a claim in this unforgiving land. Isaac, a former Buffalo Soldier, is fiercely proud; black families are rare in the West, and black ranchers even rarer.

 

But it hasn't rained in months, the cattle are bellowing with thirst, and supplies have dwindled. Pregnant, and struggling to feed her family, Rachel is determined to give her surviving children the life they deserve, but she knows that her husband will never leave his ranch. Somehow she must find the strength to do what is right--for her children, for her husband, and for herself.

 

***

 

I'm an author and I'm ashamed to say I'm utterly hopeless at writing reviews, and I admire those who can, so please bear with me while I stumble around, trying to find the right words to describe how very much I enjoyed this book. First of all, I knew I'd enjoy the novel; I just didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and now that it's over, I find myself thinking about it more than many novels I read and promptly forget about.

 

Short-listed for the Orange Award for New Writers, this novel is literary without being pretentious. It's a subtle, gently-told story with enormous power, and filled with finely-drawn characters, especially the pragmatic, flawed, yet eminently likable Rachel DuPree. You'll find yourself rooting for her one minute and despairing the next, cheering her on and then hoping she'll change her mind, and you won't know till the very last page what her final decision will be.

 

This novel also packs quite a punch as a history lesson that takes you from the smells of Chicago's meat packing district to the Badlands of South Dakota where prairie grass stretches to the horizon and the nearest neighbours are ten miles down the road.

Edited by Maggie Dana
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