Elithe Hamilton Kirkland (1907–1992)

This book is interesting and colorful history, but not very good literature. Characters are largely unexplained and often affect a swoony, romantic stance. The ending section is especially disappointing in a fairy tale kind of way that still leaves many unanswered questions, such as what happened to the other twelve dead children and why Harriet finally left her lakeshore home to go back to New Orleans.

My grandmother loved this book. It was based on actual memoirs and is factually accurate. The history teacher in me loved this story of a pioneer woman in early Texas.

FROM AMAZON: This is the extraordinary story of Harriet Potter - the delicate, dark-eyed girl who became a legend during the stirring days of the battle for Texan independence and who played a dramatic part in the growth and destiny of her beloved and beautiful land. Harriet Potter was many things. She was the frightened young girl, abandoned with two small children in a savage, lonely wilderness and left there to die. To the Caddo Indians living in the rich forest and lake country of show more Northeast Texas, she was the "kishi woman", kindred to Ina, the Earth Mother. And to others, she was "The Bravest Woman in the Republic of Texas".

KIRKUS REVIEWS: The title provides the clue to this fictional biography of a woman who has become one of the Texan legends. She left a revealing manuscript and it is on that Miss Kirkland, a fellow Texan, has built her romantic story of purple passion and callous brutality. Harriet Page Potter Ames (she had three husbands) was unfortunate in the choice of her first, Page, a merchant turned gambler, who took her to the wilds of Texas in 1835 and deserted her and his two children while he went off to fight for the young Republic of Texas. Potter, the second, was violent and charming, a cabinet officer of the Republic, who married her under false pretenses, and -- as Harriet learned after his murder -- was consistently unfaithful. With the third husband, Charles Ames, she knew real happiness, although she was never allowed to forget the malicious gossip that dubbed her ""Potter's Paramour"". Based on the lives of actual people, this falls between an authentic portrait and historical soap opera, with the latter appeal dimmed by over-long, often tedious, over-written romance. show less

very good