this book is a vital work, incredibly researched, and finely detailed. it made for an interesting read, and an excellent book group discussion. but.... (sorry! it is totally minor)... it was a slog of a read for me. every page is densely packed with information, and detail after detail. there was no good rhythm or flow to it for me. so while i feel very good for having great the book, and learning so much through the author's research, i didn't particularly love the ride. (again, VERY minor 'yeah, but...')

this is such important work, so my slogging through the read should not be interpreted as dislike. i do recommend it, in fact. and especially so if it is being read in the context of a book club. smardz frost offers a great profile of not only one woman, but of those around her, and the era she lived through. the author is quite a talented academic, on top of being an award-winning author. one of her fields of specialty is archaeology. unearthing the history to create this book was definitely a work of excavation. and while we can't fill some of the holes that exist - because there is just no way to know - i deeply appreciated the fact that smardz frost refrained from supposition and inference. if something was not factually supported by evidence, she did not guess, or imagine. (though those moments certainly left me curious, wondering about outcomes.) ( )