Photos and a Book Review

I’ve created a photo album for the visit to the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives for the Sew Butte exhibit. If I can figure out how to add captions, I’ll do so, but for now, enjoy the photos. And if you are anywhere within a day’s drive, I highly recommend visiting the exhibit in person.

I have a book review for you today. This novel is part of a series that ranks right up there with the Darkover novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley as one of my favorites. The author is Sara Donati—the pen name of Rosina Lippi—and the title is The Sweet Blue Distance.

These novels follow members of the same family over a span of almost 100 years, from the late 1700s to the late 1800s. The original series—dubbed the “Wilderness” series because it begins with the book Into the Wilderness—details the story of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bonner and their home in upstate New York. If you really want to sink your teeth into these books, start with that one. (I will warn you, however, that the second book in the Wilderness series, Dawn on a Distant Shore, is the weakest of the entire lot and best consumed as quickly as possible so that you may continue on with the rest of the novels.)

[Apple trees figure prominently in one of the later novels in the Wilderness series, which is why I have a Westfield Seek-No-Futher in my orchard. That was one of the varieties mentioned by name in the book. Susan found the scion wood for it and grafted two for me. One died, but one is still solidering on in the orchard in front of our house.]

The Endless Forest, the last book in the Wilderness series, was published in 2010, and we all thought that would be the end of the story. Rosina Lippi said it was unlikely there would be additional books. However, in 2015, I was walking through a Barnes and Noble in Spokane Valley and spotted The Gilded Hour. I am quite positive I let out an audible squeak of joy. The Gilded Hour picks up the story with one of Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner’s grandchildren, Anna Savard, now a physician in New York City. It is part of what Rosina Lippi refers to as “the Waverly Place series.” It was followed up by the second Waverly Place book entitled Where the Light Enters.

[I have every single one of these books in hardback, because they are that good.]

The Sweet Blue Distance bridges the gap between the Wilderness series and the Waverly Place series. Carrie Ballentyne, another of Nathaniel and Elizabeth’s grandchildren—but older than Anna Savard of The Gilded Hour—is a midwife in New York City. Through family and professional connections, she learns of a position available in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In May of 1857, she begins the journey across the country with her brother, Nathan. There is so much more to the story, but for me to explain it would spoil the joy of reading it.

Lippi is a master storyteller. Once I start one of her novels, I know I won’t be able to put it down until I finish it. She is skilled at weaving subordinate mysteries through the primary tale—mysteries that don’t resolve until the last few pages of the book. Her research is thorough and detailed, with a deep understanding of the cultural undercurrents of the period. She sugarcoats nothing, which can be devastating when one develops an emotional connection to a character who gets killed off as part of the story. (She once said, in her blog, that she rolls dice to decide who lives and who dies.) The character development is superb, which is why it is easy to find that kind of connection.

I cannot give this series enough praise. If you enjoy historical fiction with a dash of mystery, you’ll love these books as much as I do.

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I am still chipping away at the to-do list. It looks like we have one more cold day—temps in the 40s—before we warm up. I think we will be planting potatoes this weekend. I got German Butterballs again; they were so good last year. I also got Clearwater Russet and Umatilla Russet. I am quite fond of russets.