WHEN WINTER COMES.

Invited to participate in this Blog Tour, alas a hospital stay meant I was unable to post my review on the second of April for which I offer my sincere apologies again. TT



WHEN WINTER COMES by V.A. SHANNON.

In the voice of an unforgettable heroine, V.A. Shannon explores one of the most harrowing episodes in pioneer history--the ill-fated journey of the Donner Party--in a mesmerizing novel of resilience and survival.

Mrs. Jacob Klein has a husband, children, and a warm and comfortable home in California. No one--not even her family--knows how she came to be out West thirteen years ago. Jacob, a kind and patient man, has promised not to ask. But if she were to tell her story, she would recount a tale of tragedy, mishaps, and unthinkable choices--yet also sacrifice, courage, and a powerful, unexpected love . . .

1846: On the outskirts of Cincinnati, wagons gather by the hundreds, readying to head west to California. Among the throng is a fifteen-year-old girl eager to escape her abusive family. With just a few stolen dollars to her name, she enlists as helpmate to a married couple with a young daughter. Their group stays optimistic in the face of the journey's hazards and delays. Then comes a decision that she is powerless to prevent: Instead of following the wagon train's established route, the Donner Party will take a shortcut over the Sierras, aiming to clear the mountains before the first snows descend.

In the years since that infamous winter, other survivors have sold their accounts for notoriety and money, lurid tales often filled with half-truths or blatant, gory lies. Now, Mrs. Klein must decide whether to keep those bitter memories secret, or risk destroying the life she has endured so much to build . . 
- Back Cover Blurb

There was a special service in church this morning, which was filled to bursting.
- First Sentence; Chapter 1

Those children never did go back to see their names carved into the rock. They never heard how their parents were there that hot day, laughing and telling jokes, and George riding on his pa's back.

Perhaps their names are still there. Or perhaps they are worn away to nothing, with the wind and the rain beating on them year after year.
- Memorable Moment; Page 86

SOURCE ... Received with thanks from the author.

READ FOR A CHALLENGE? ... No.

MY THOUGHTS ... It isn't easy to take the basis of a true story and claim it as your own and yet impressively author V.A. Shannon has done just this in a novel that is inspired by the infamous Donner Party of 1846.

Meticulously researched; the factual fascinating reading (even to someone who has read several accounts of the story), the sense of time and place impeccable and yet, vividly imagined, it is the human element that really makes this book for me.

Narrated by one Mrs Klein; the timeline alternating between her present life as a wife and mother and, given a journal as a gift, her recalling the events of some thirteen years previously when aged just fifteen and fleeing her abusive father she had begged a place on a wagon train heading west.

A story of impossible choices, of what it is to have a dream. Human nature is laid bare in a story that on the one hand is harrowing and heartbreaking; the members of the ill fated party forced to make some horrendous choices and yet, on the other, is full of optimism and hope. I defy anyone to read When Winter Comes and not wonder what they would do when faced with such choices.