Ann Weisgarber

I met Ann Weisgarber at a Texas Library Association conference April 2015, where she spoke about how she worked with librarians and archivists at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston to research her first book, The Promise.  I finally got around to reading The Glovemaker, and it's just as meticulously researched.

The book is set in winter, 1888, in the Mormon community of Junction in the canyonlands of Utah Territory.  Junction is quite remote, and the small number of families that live there do so without all the strict rules of their faith.  However, the two main characters - Deborah Tyler and Nels Anderson - as well as Deborah's husband and Nels' stepbrother, Samuel - do help polygamists trying to escape federal deputies.  Adding tension to the story is that Samuel is overdue returning home from his travels to other Utah communities in his work as a wheelwright.  Nels believes a rockslide on the mountainous road home has forced Samuel to take a longer route.

A polygamist comes to Deborah's door seeking aid, and Deborah feeds him and lets him sleep in her barn overnight, before sending him on to Nels, who will take him to a sanctuary.   Later, despite the terrible weather, a man identifying himself as a marshal from Missouri - not a deputy from Utah - arrives at Deborah's home pursuing the man.  Later, this marshal is seriously injured, and Deborah and Nels must make decisions that test their beliefs and futures.  These tensions form the heart of the story.

Junction was a real place - later called Fruita (for all the orchards planted there by early settlers), and now part of Capitol Reef National Park.  Weisgarber's visit there for a vacation inspired the book.  She even made a research trip there in the winter, "so I could experience the climate and terrain as my characters do."  Indeed, in reading her words, I could really feel the bitter cold as Deborah and Nels went about their daily chores, as well as the tasks made necessary by the visits of the two strangers.

I e-mailed Weisgarber and asked her what inspired her to make the character of Deborah a glovemaker.  She responded, "Brigham Young encouraged LDS [Mormon] women to have occupations so they could support their families if their husbands died or were injured. I pondered this and decided that since Deborah’s father was a tanner, she had access to small scraps of hide. Gloves were essential not only because of the cold weather but to protect hands from blisters and cuts while driving horses, working with crops, gripping handles of plows, on and on. Hands also say much about us – our age, if we do labor, if our nails are dirty and ragged -- but gloves cover this information. For me, gloves were symbolic of the people in Junction not talking about the men who sought help. Gloves also represented all the secrets the church leaders kept about scandals."  She did say that the book's title was not her choice - which I know is often the case in the publishing world.… (more)

This was an interesting book. I was intrigued by the storyline and the main character, Deborah.
Deborah lives in Junction, a town that houses Mormon families. She makes gloves and tends her orchards. Her husband , Samuel is a wheelwright. Samuel has been gone for longer than he should of been and Deborah os anxious for his return.One night a stranger shows up at her door. He is looking for refuge. She leads him to a fellow Mormon Nels. He shelters men who are traveling to a safe house for polygamists. Unfortunately, a US Marshall shows up looking for the polygamist, Braden. Braden had converted the marshalls' 16 year old daughter and he wanted her back home. Braden caused the marshall to fall off his horse and become critically injured. Nels brings Deborah to care for the dying man so that he can get Braden to safety. Deborah cares for the marshall as she hopes someone would care for her missing husband. The Marshall's family come for him and the townspeople fear retribution. Many families decide to leave. Deborah stays because she believes her husband will come home. Nels finally tells her that he thinks Samuel is dead. She convinces him to take her to the cliff where he thought he saw a demolished wagon. She realizes that Samuel is dead but she still wants to stay in Junction to be near him.… (more)

Reason read: ROOT, western
I was encouraged to read this book a few years ago. It is a work of historical fiction set int he early 1900s, Chicago and the Badlands. Rachel is a black woman who works at the boarding home of Mrs DuPree. She marries Mrs DuPree's son, Buffalo Soldier, and moves to South Dakota where they take advantage of the Homestead ACT. A train connected Chicago and Interior, South Dakota. The land they obtained is in the Badlands which is an infertile land and there is a drought. Farming is harsh, they're barely surviving.

I was not immediately drawn into the book. The language is appropriate for black homesteaders. It was not scary but there was tension. There is a constant questioning by Rachel of her husbands intentions. It seems she doesn't quite trust him. The themes would be the harshness of the land, the harshness of the husband, motherhood and protecting children and of course racism. But this book shows both racism against the DuPree's but also racism against Indians by the DuPree's.

The book was historically accurate. There was homesteading in the Badlands and black people did take advantage of the homestead act. They usually lived in settlements together but in this book they are isolated from others. Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Paul Laurence Dunbar were real people during this time in history. I liked Mrs Fills the Pipe and she probably is my favorite character because she was true to herself and she did what needed to be done for Rachel. My least favorite character might even be Rachel. The ending did not agree with me though I accepted the ending and it even fits I guess but it just felt like Rachel gave up. I thought she could be stronger but it also took strength to do as she did.… (more)

This book was recommended by an Intern at the Homestead National Monument near Beatrice, Nebraska. Like the Intern, I rarely read fiction but after reading this one, I agree with the Intern that this is an exceptional book and I'm glad I read it.

Ms. Weisgarber is a master of plot and character development through flashbacks and winding it into a cohesive, page-turner!

It is the story of a black couple homesteading near Interior, South Dakota, and their life goal challenges and differences.… (more)