The Lieutenant's Lady

Based on a true story, I found this book to be an absolutely fascinating tale of a woman. I leaned towards a 4.5 rating because there was a point when Norman and Linnie should have hashed it out. I understand why communication was limited for a large portion of the novel, but that last chapter deserved some sort of communication resolution. I was so enthralled by the rest that I chose to overlook it. The historic tidbits were juicy, as were the sly glimpses into characters like Henry. I'm glad I found a library that owned it.

Based on a true story of a woman who marries an army man during the post-Civil War battles with the Indians in the Western Territories. She travels with him from fort to fort, quickly adapting to the harsh conditions, but never really accepting her situation as permanent. All the while she struggles with the belief that her husband still pines for his first love, her cousin, until the very end, when he finally declares his devotion to his wife. An enjoyable, quick read, and--because it was written in 1942--wonderfully free from modern commentary.

This story was taken from actually diary. Linnie Colsworth, travels up the Missouri River from Council Bluffs, Iowa to break her cousins, Cynthia's engagement after promising her she will let Norman Stafford know Cynthia has married another. Linnie makes her way to a fort in the wilderness to Norman. Norman tells her there is no place for her to stay and convinces Linnie they should get married. She will then have a place to stay until the next boat arrives on the river to return her to civilization. Linnie finds one excuse after another for not taking each boat as it arrives. Eventually, Lieutenant Stafford and Linnie fall in love.
This was not as good as her book A Lantern in Her Hand.

The first eleven pages where fine, the 12th and 13th page was missing however. Never finished reading this.