A review by kblincoln
The Widow's War by Sally Cabot Gunning
5.0
Sally Gunning has done her homework. She knows what Colonial Cape Cod folk ate, read, fished, and cooked. But strangely enough, she also seems to be able to look into their hearts: a widowed woman stubbornly set against signing away her rightful 'widow's thirds' of her husbands estate just to satisfy a son-in-law's greed, a Native American who walks a line between his own nation/beliefs and that of the white man's village, a lawyer who is caught up in the beginning stirrings of ideas about property that will lead to American Independence.
The strength in Lyddie Berry's story aren't the completely believable way that historical period is brought to life, but the way in which the author takes you on the journey her characters take even when their choices are difficult and controversial.
Lyddie Berry's whaling husband dies, and it is the way of those times that she should go to live in her son-in-law's house and be taken care of. But Lyddie doesn't want to be consigned to a corner and have all her worldly posessions controlled by her son-in-law, she wants to make her own way, even if it means tieing her name in a scandalous way to her native american neighbor.
Read The Widow's War to learn history. Read the Widow's war to follow along a nascent feminist in colonial America. Read the Widow's war to cheer and cringe at Lyddie's defiance.
But mostly read The Widow's War to make you ponder where your own limits are; who are you willing to defy, what are you willing to do to make your way in life? And what are the limits of your own self will?
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Corn chowder for the earthy, fundamental tastes of colonial history, with the underlying sweetness of the characters who will linger on your tongue long after the pages are turned.
The strength in Lyddie Berry's story aren't the completely believable way that historical period is brought to life, but the way in which the author takes you on the journey her characters take even when their choices are difficult and controversial.
Lyddie Berry's whaling husband dies, and it is the way of those times that she should go to live in her son-in-law's house and be taken care of. But Lyddie doesn't want to be consigned to a corner and have all her worldly posessions controlled by her son-in-law, she wants to make her own way, even if it means tieing her name in a scandalous way to her native american neighbor.
Read The Widow's War to learn history. Read the Widow's war to follow along a nascent feminist in colonial America. Read the Widow's war to cheer and cringe at Lyddie's defiance.
But mostly read The Widow's War to make you ponder where your own limits are; who are you willing to defy, what are you willing to do to make your way in life? And what are the limits of your own self will?
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Corn chowder for the earthy, fundamental tastes of colonial history, with the underlying sweetness of the characters who will linger on your tongue long after the pages are turned.