Title: Sierra: a novel of the California gold rush
Author: Wheeler, Richard S.
Publication Date: 1996
Number of Pages: 380
Genre: Western
Geographical Setting: Rural Iowa and California
Time Period: 1849-1851
Plot Summary: Wheeler tells the story of two men and their lives during the period from 1849-1851. Ulysses McQueen is from a small-town in Iowa and little more than a boy himself. Recently married and with a baby on the way, he decides to seek his fortune along with thousands of others in the California gold rush. Leaving his expectant wife with promises of a rich and well-worth-it return, he travels across thousands of miles of ungodly countryside, all the way to California. With little to no communication with his family back East, his lonesome and frustrated wife finally travels to find whether he is alive or dead. Simultaneously, Stephen Jarvis is fresh out of the Mexican-American War, and looking for a new start. After falling in love with the Mexican girl who sells him a horse, he leaves to seek his fortune so that he might win her hand in marriage. His plans are thwarted when her father forces her to marry another. How will these families survive in their new lives? The novel alternates sections between McQueen and Jarvis’ points of view, offering an interesting approach to the storytelling. The descriptions of the way life was on the journey west are highly colorful, and therefore appealing. The book casts a realistic glimpse into the past, at what thousands of man left families and futures to find.
Author: Wheeler, Richard S.
Publication Date: 1996
Number of Pages: 380
Genre: Western
Geographical Setting: Rural Iowa and California
Time Period: 1849-1851
Plot Summary: Wheeler tells the story of two men and their lives during the period from 1849-1851. Ulysses McQueen is from a small-town in Iowa and little more than a boy himself. Recently married and with a baby on the way, he decides to seek his fortune along with thousands of others in the California gold rush. Leaving his expectant wife with promises of a rich and well-worth-it return, he travels across thousands of miles of ungodly countryside, all the way to California. With little to no communication with his family back East, his lonesome and frustrated wife finally travels to find whether he is alive or dead. Simultaneously, Stephen Jarvis is fresh out of the Mexican-American War, and looking for a new start. After falling in love with the Mexican girl who sells him a horse, he leaves to seek his fortune so that he might win her hand in marriage. His plans are thwarted when her father forces her to marry another. How will these families survive in their new lives? The novel alternates sections between McQueen and Jarvis’ points of view, offering an interesting approach to the storytelling. The descriptions of the way life was on the journey west are highly colorful, and therefore appealing. The book casts a realistic glimpse into the past, at what thousands of man left families and futures to find.
Similar Authors and Works (Fiction): Allende, Isabel – Daughter of Fortune (love during the time of the gold rush, pregnant woman left alone who eventually follows); Holland, Cecilia – Ordinary Woman, An: a dramatized biography of Nancy Kelsey (young married man who gets the itching to go west after gold, strong female characters); Blum, Ivon – River of Souls: a novel of the American Myth (life during and after the Mexican-American War, and settlement of the west).
Similar Authors and Works (Nonfiction): Garcia, Jeff – Gold Mining Together (the art of gold mining detailed and examined for the contemporary prospector); Kelly, Leslie A. – Traveling California’s Gold Rush Country (modern-day look at the sites to see for those who wish to follow the path of the gold miners); Sidel, Ruth – Unsung Heroines: Single Mothers and the American Dream (being a single mother, encouraging strong women).
No comments:
Post a Comment