Melody Murray's Books

I loved this book with all my heart. Lovisa's voice rings so true, and the story is so well-written, that one is simply carried along in the wagon train. The hardships and the little beauties were lovingly delineated throughout. There was no way the King family's wagon train was going to get to Oregon intact, of course. None of them did, and this book brought the sadness home in an especially poignant way without overpowering the whole book with woe. The portrait of the native peoples was historically accurate and nothing at all like the usual scary tall tales from the trail. Crew based all the interactions of the pioneers and the natives on actual journal entries. In her afterword, she noted wryly that one of the pioneer journals that most stuck with her was one woman's chronicle of innumerable times she was helped with food or river crossings by First Nation peoples, but her entries dwelt upon her fear of the frightful, murderous Indians she was certain were right around the next bend. Crew has done her homework here, and nearly all the characters in this book were actual people. There is supplemental material that was also interesting- a forward by Jennifer Armstrong, an afterword by one of the King family, and an afterword by Crew, all of which add something positive to the book.Highly recommended!