Helpful Score: 3
I loved this book, it ended too soon for me. Her diary covers a few short years, beginning when she hires on to run the ranch house of a Scottish rancher, taking her small daughter with her. Elinore is full of life, kind hearted and an awfully hard worker, yet she still managed to find the time to take her daughter on overnight winter camping trips, befriend many neighbors and run her own homestead too. I hope I can be as optimistic throughout such hardships.
Helpful Score: 2
excellent first hand accounts of women on the frontier.
Helpful Score: 2
I love reading letters, especially ones that are filled with such detailed accounts of life as a homesteader mail-order bride! This was filled with interesting stories about the neighbors that Elinore Stewart came across or spent time with. She also gives her own personal stories, but not often because her friend in which she wrote them to might have felt she was bragging. Some of the stories were very sad, while others were so sweet and fun. She definitely was not tied down even though she married in that time. She was given much more freedoms than I think most women were in that day, and knew a lot of skills that women weren't normally allowed to know or do, yet her husband Clyde embraced them about her.
Helpful Score: 2
This is truly one of the most delightful books I have read. Elinore Stewart was more than a homesteader. She was a woman of adventure and imagination that took her camping, exploring, and visiting (even with small children in tow) through some horrifically cold weather. She played matchmaker at times, had a wonderful sense of humor, and a spirit that said "just because she was a woman" didn't mean she couldn't enjoy life. Her husband gave her such liberty that she was able to make the most of being a wife, mother, and friend to many. Her escapades will amuse you, trials will make you cry; and even though this is written as letters, they are written in a way to read like chapters in a book. A refreshing read.
Helpful Score: 2
Delightful look into the life of a female homesteader - told through letters written to a former employer/friend. While revealing Elinore's personal experiences, the writings also offer us an opportunity for a broader understanding of the feminine role in the homesteading experience. Quick, easy read. Interesting characters.
