Review by Booklist Review
Much like the characters from her favorite Jumblies rhymes, Mary Edwards Gerritse dreams of daring escapades along the Oregon coast, beginning with marriage to her seafaring husband, John. But what Mary hoped would be the start of her next great adventure finds her instead at home with their rapidly growing family, and Mary increasingly discontented with being relegated to domestic duties. As the demands of motherhood push her to the brink of despair and even close to death, she knows the only path forward is one with purpose, faith, and unwavering courage in the face of life's ever-changing tides. Kirkpatrick opens her Women of Cannon Beach series with a powerful 1888 story about the timeless demands on and strength of women at the intersection of ambition and family. Based on the true story of one of the first female mail carriers, the novel features homesteading struggles, Indigenous communities, coastal tourism, and themes of resilience and guilt in motherhood. The ending raises more questions than answers, but this captivating start sparks with the promise of discoveries still to come.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Mary Edwards is only a teenager, but she is convinced that sailing into marriage with John Gerritse will be a great adventure. Sometimes, though, it seems as if they are going to sea in a sieve, just like the Jumblies in her favorite Edward Lear poem. Oregon Territory along the Pacific coastline in 1888 seems just the place for dreamers like Mary and John, although both underestimate the backbreaking labor it will take to carve out a homestead of their own on land that the government has snatched from Indigenous peoples. No matter that a road to the coast does not yet exist, Mary and John know that they can help make Cannon Beach a tourist destination. Side characters such as a Nehalem Clatsop woman named Jewell and an English remittance man named Herbie bring both risk and reward into the couple's lives. VERDICT Kirkpatrick (Beneath the Bending Skies) writes of Western expansion with an eye for people whom history books often forget. There are no 21st-century anachronisms in this tale based on a real-life couple. Readers who like to see the day-to-day unfolding slowly in unexpected ways, as in the work of Sandra Dallas and Tracie Peterson, will enjoy.
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