I fell in too far with this one. I identified so intensely with Mamah that I was unable to brace myself for the tragedy that I knew was coming. The writing is good. The story is compelling and as close to historically accurate as one could ask, given the paucity of historical data on Mamah Cheney. The characters are real, leaping off of the page. And the brutality of the ending was done well, if too graphically for my candyass self.