Book Cover
She eventually marries Captain Jack who is a soldier in the military. Together they convert the homestead into a ranch and move into town where they build a home and Jack becomes fire chief. They lose their youngest child, Susan, to scarlet fever. A few years later Jack dies from smoke inhalation from trying to save someone from a fire. Once again, Sarah is a widow. She sells the house in town and moves back to the ranch house where she can live closer to her mother, brother, and sister-in-law.
MY REVIEW
Sarah Agnes Prine is one of the best female characters I have ever had the pleasure to read about. She is fierce, violent, passionate, nurturing, loving, loyal, and knows her way around a gun and ranch better than most men. She faces life head-on and without guile. She is the immaculate balance between a loving, kind and sheer, violent passion. Turner creates a vivid picture of western life where the gun is the law. It is raw, empowering, devastating, and uplifting. I found myself cheering Sarah on in her violent tirades and crying with her in her moment of deepest soul shattering sorrow.
BOOKTALKING
Sarah comes to empathize with her mother because she goes through similar experiences. When Sarah lost her sibling, her mother broke down. Sarah never understood how her mother could do this until she herself loses a child. It goes to show that the more heartache and unfairness we experience, the more empathy we will be able to have for others.
Sarah has a difficult transition into motherhood and wonders if there is any part of her that is left. Any young mother can relate to the feeling of forgetting, for a time, who you are while you care for an infant that is completely reliable on you.
At one point, Sarah says that she feels as though her life is like a book left outside with the wind quickly turning the pages before she can read them. This is something that every reader can relate to as it is one of the truths of life. Our lives may be long, but the many experiences that we have everyday make it go by so quickly.
DISCUSSION POINTS
Did you like how the book was written in the form of a journal? Did you feel it helped the story or would you have preferred third person? Why?
What can women learn from Sarah in her acts of determination and courage?
How was Sarah able to balance being a caring and loving person, while doing everything she could to survive?
Had Jimmy not died, do you think he and Sarah could have made their marriage work?
Why do Jack and Sarah give time pieces to each other as wedding gifts?
How do Sarah and Savannah show their respect for one another?
"Jack and Sarah are as delicious a couple as Rhett and Scarlett." -USA Today
"Belongs on your must-read list. This novel is a gem." -Omaha World-Herald
BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Turner, N. (1998). These is my words. New York, NY/USA: HarperCollins
PAGES/AUDIO BOOK TIME
416/14 hours
PURCHASING OPTIONS
Hardcover $18.40
Paperback $14.39
NOOK $11.99
Paperback $14.39
NOOK $11.99
Kindle $11.24
Hardcover $21.57
Hardcover $21.57
Paperback $12.80
Audio CD $12.80
Audio CD $12.80
ANNOTATION
Sarah Agnes Prine keeps a diary of the hardships and victories of the Arizona Territory.
SUMMARY *Spoiler Alert*
Sarah Agnes Prine keeps diary over the span of twenty years form 1881 to 1901. In this time her family tries to leave the Arizona Territory, but due to American Indian attacks and the death of her brother and father they return to the Arizona Territory. There Sarah meets and marries Jimmy and has a daughter, April. Only after 2 years of marriage Jimmy dies leaving Sarah a homestead with horses to breed and care for alone. She eventually marries Captain Jack who is a soldier in the military. Together they convert the homestead into a ranch and move into town where they build a home and Jack becomes fire chief. They lose their youngest child, Susan, to scarlet fever. A few years later Jack dies from smoke inhalation from trying to save someone from a fire. Once again, Sarah is a widow. She sells the house in town and moves back to the ranch house where she can live closer to her mother, brother, and sister-in-law.
MY REVIEW
Sarah Agnes Prine is one of the best female characters I have ever had the pleasure to read about. She is fierce, violent, passionate, nurturing, loving, loyal, and knows her way around a gun and ranch better than most men. She faces life head-on and without guile. She is the immaculate balance between a loving, kind and sheer, violent passion. Turner creates a vivid picture of western life where the gun is the law. It is raw, empowering, devastating, and uplifting. I found myself cheering Sarah on in her violent tirades and crying with her in her moment of deepest soul shattering sorrow.
RATING
Quality Rating: Silver
Popularity Rating: Emerald
Quality Rating: Silver
Popularity Rating: Emerald
GENRE & SUB GENRES
Historical Fiction
Fiction
Historical
Romance
Westerns
Fiction
Historical
Romance
Westerns
APPEAL FACTORS
This book gives a look at the lives of those who settles the wild west especially Arizona. It shares the hardships specifically women faced this this rough time and place, and Sarah is a strong female character. It is a good western book.
Sarah comes to empathize with her mother because she goes through similar experiences. When Sarah lost her sibling, her mother broke down. Sarah never understood how her mother could do this until she herself loses a child. It goes to show that the more heartache and unfairness we experience, the more empathy we will be able to have for others.
Sarah has a difficult transition into motherhood and wonders if there is any part of her that is left. Any young mother can relate to the feeling of forgetting, for a time, who you are while you care for an infant that is completely reliable on you.
At one point, Sarah says that she feels as though her life is like a book left outside with the wind quickly turning the pages before she can read them. This is something that every reader can relate to as it is one of the truths of life. Our lives may be long, but the many experiences that we have everyday make it go by so quickly.
DISCUSSION POINTS
Did you like how the book was written in the form of a journal? Did you feel it helped the story or would you have preferred third person? Why?
What can women learn from Sarah in her acts of determination and courage?
How was Sarah able to balance being a caring and loving person, while doing everything she could to survive?
Had Jimmy not died, do you think he and Sarah could have made their marriage work?
Why do Jack and Sarah give time pieces to each other as wedding gifts?
How do Sarah and Savannah show their respect for one another?
WHY THIS BOOK?
I follow a blog, 71 toes, whose blogger has a list of books they recommend. I looked at the list and after reading the synopsis of this book I felt compelled to read it. I have recently been researching my wife's family history. She has many ancestors who traveled west and settle the harsh desert land. I felt that this book would help give me a better understanding of what these ancestors of hers experienced in the wild west.
THE AUTHOR
REVIEWS
"Belongs on your must-read list. This novel is a gem." -Omaha World-Herald
SIMILAR TITLES/AUTHORS
The Rent Collector by Camron Wright
The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas
Rumors of War by Dean Hughes
AWARDS
Arizona Author Award
Willa Cather Literary Award
POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Settling of the West
- Arizona Territory settling
- Conneciton to my wife's family history
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