Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
A Lady Follows
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Holly Newman
Class/Genre: Mystery Historical Woman Main Character
Forge, Feb 1999, $24.95, 382 pp.
In 1846 Missouri, widow Carolina Harper decides that she must do something useful with her life after the deaths of her husband and child. In spite of being pregnant and the talk of war between Mexico and the United States, Carolina begins traveling along the Santa Fe Trail. Her destination is Santa Fe where her uncle is raising three children without their mother.
The Trail is as dangerous as she has been warned by individuals trying to persuade her to forget her folly. Still, she reaches her destination, the home land of her father's family. However, just like her own divided culture, two countries apparently are ready to clash over the territory. Her own uncle, being one of the most powerful individuals in the area, plans to drive the Anglos out of New Mexico.
A LADY FOLLOWS is an interesting entry in the "Woman of the West" series. The characters are well developed as both positions of the sides in the upcoming Mexican-American War are brilliantly explained without prejudice. Readers accompanying Carolina and her cohorts on their trek along the Santa Fe Trail will feel the danger as much as if they were there (or at least simulating it through the computer game). However, the pace is knocked off kilter by repeating each day's adventures of Carolina in her diary, thereby causing several unnecessary painful detours to a well-designed story line. Fans of American romance should skip the diary passages (as this reviewer eventually did), which leads to an entertaining reading experience.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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