Review by New York Times Review
"Beloved classic" - the epithet can at once .. ,, warm the cockles and chill the bones. These are the 500-pound gorillas of literature, with l wide readership and fanatical followings. Though unassailable, they turn out to be not exactly untouchable, especially in this day of knock-offs, updates, sequels and fan fiction. Authors rush in where angels fear to tread. "Caroline: Little House, Revisited" embellishes Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" series in a telling that falls somewhere between parlor game and trapeze act. How much more do we want to know about Caroline "Ma" Ingalls, whom Miller's novel recasts as the star of the show? Can we handle the intimate details of her quiet, stoic life, as her breasts express "fine grains of foremilk" when newborn Carrie latches onto the nipple? A modern sensibility might demand such candor, but it's at odds with the "Little House" books' restraint, a quality that enticed readers from the series' start. "There was only the enormous, empty prairie, with grasses blowing in waves of light and shadow across it, and the great blue sky above it, and birds flying up from it and singing with joy because the sun was rising." The original's simple, streamlined approach has inspired generations to dream themselves into a faraway time and place, where a husband presenting his wife with a hand-built willow rocker qualifies as a peak moment. "Caroline" adheres fairly closely to the 19th-century chronology of "Little House," the arduous journey from the Wisconsin woods to the Kansas plains and the awkward run-ins with Native Americans. But it adds dollops of character interiority as well as scenes, such as ones displaying Caroline and her husband's intimacy - not previously part of our "Little House" fantasy. Miller gives us the pregnant Ma over the course of the long wagon trip, feeling every rut and bump in her burgeoning belly. Beneath Caroline's "skirts and steels, the still and silent baby seemed to twirl like a key turning, as if it had been waiting, all this time, for this night." "Prairie" cultists may well relish such details, and "Caroline" comes to us with the authorization of the "Little House" estate. My greatest relief was that Jack, the brindle bulldog with a terrific bark, survived the transfer intact. JEAN ZIMMERMAN is the author, most recently, of the novel "Savage Girl."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 8, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
Over the years, the Little House books have become big business, spawning endless spin-offs. Here with the approval of the Little House estate is the latest: the series revisited from the point of view not of Laura but of her mother, Caroline. The result is a gentle historical romance that begins in 1870 with Caroline, three months pregnant, leaving the familiar Big Woods of Wisconsin with her family as they head for a new life in the unknown wilds of Kansas' Indian Territory. The familiar story proceeds from there as the Wilders journey west, encounter Indians, and put down roots. Miller excels at verisimilitude, bringing her setting to vivid life, including her exposition of the extraordinary difficulties of the pioneers' lot. She is less successful with her characters, who are so unrelievedly good as to rob the story of conflict, and, hence, drama. Nevertheless, Little House fans will welcome this new perspective even as it attracts new readers to the beloved series.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Peeling back the layers of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" series allows young adult author Miller to reveal the real Caroline Ingalls, Wilder's mother. While Ma projected a calm, strong exterior in the face of adversity in the series, research and family letters point to a woman in real life who at times questioned her ability to be a good caretaker and was haunted by the meagerness of her childhood. Miller, who has previously exposed unheard voices in her work (Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller), recounts the story of the Ingalls family's 700-mile covered wagon trek from Wisconsin to a settlement in Kansas. Here, Ma's thoughts run deep as she constantly assesses her words and actions toward daughters Laura, Mary, and Carrie, and partners effectively with her husband, Charles, and his wanderlust. This character-driven narrative balances a submissive and dutiful wife with a passionate young woman who openly and tenderly admires her husband and relishes their lovemaking. VERDICT Not to be missed by Wilder's grown-up fans or those who enjoy historical fiction about the settling of the American West in the late 1800s. [See Prepub Alert, 3/27/17.]-Wendy W. Paige, Shelby Cty. P.L., Morristown, IN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The Ingalls family loads everything they own onto a wagon and heads west from Wisconsin to the unsettled Kansas Territory, but this time, the tale is told from Caroline's perspective.A master of historical fiction, Miller (The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century, 2016, etc.) forges Caroline Ingalls into a formidable, complex pioneer woman, and adult fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series will delight in this portrayal of "Ma." Taking advantage of the opportunity to sell their Wisconsin farm, the Ingallses say goodbye to extended family. Will Charles, her beloved husband; Mary, her sweetly serious 5-year-old; and Laura, her rambunctious 3-year-old, be enough for Caroline? More worrisome, she's again pregnant. Without her kinswomen near, who will deliver her child? The journey is rife with dangers, from torrential rains and swollen rivers to menacing wolves and inscrutable Indians, not to mention claustrophobic quarters aboard the wagon. Yet the journey also brings rekindled romance and the discovery of new friends, including the beloved Mr. Edwards, who arrives gruff, lean, and thirsty for a family. And in her direst moments Caroline must swallow her fears as she faces down Indians invading her new home, catastrophic accidents, and illnesses. And she must stifle her modesty as she surrenders to the ministrations of a stranger, the only woman for miles, in childbirth. As the Ingalls family moves into the wide-open prairie, Caroline's own psychological terrain cracks opens, and Miller's novel shifts from exploring the geographical to the emotional wilderness of a woman caught on the very edge of civilization as she knows it. Caroline is compellingly mindful, particularly when she studies the effects of a tightly knit family life on her daughters and of relentless, brutal work on her husband, herself, and her far-flung neighbors in Indian territory. Beguiling, pulse-pounding historical fiction. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
