Nancy E. Turner

In a novel based on the author's ancestress, Sarah Prine, a child of the westward expansion, records her dreams, marriage, adventures, joys, and sorrows in her diary

The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901

These Is My Words

Nancy Turner

The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 (P.S.)

These is my Words

Christine

Melody Izard

Kind of a light version of Angle of Repose. Written like a diary of an uneducated, but smart early Arizona settler. There were times that it crept into being just a cheap romance. But it didn't stay there long enough to make me sneer and give up on it. Mostly she made astute observations of her sometimes hard life. She held on dear to the things in life that really matter and it made for a good read.

Danica Holdaway

I am so surprised at how much I loved this book. Sarah is so real to me - like a sister or neighbor I dearly love and respect. This book is such a reflection of real life. I laughed and cried and loved and held back a tiny bit because I already felt I had lost so much. I loved the important themes of family, strength, love, sacrifice, feminism, loss, fear, and the critical way we treat those around us. The love story was one of the best I've ever known, and I feel as if I'll carry this story around inside me for the rest of my life.

In a compelling fiction debut, Nancy E. Turner's unforgettable These Is My Words melds the sweeping adventures and dramatic landscapes of Lonesome Dove with the heartfelt emotional saga of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All. Inspired by the author's original family memoirs, this absorbing story introduces us to the questing, indomitable Sarah Prine, one of the most memorable women ever to survive and prevail in the Arizona Territory of the late 1800s. As a child, a fiery young woman, and finally a caring mother, Sarah forges a life as full and as fascinating as our deepest needs, our most secret hopes and our grandest dreams. She rides Indian-style and shoots with deadly aim, greedily devours a treasure trove of leatherbound books, downs fire, flood, Comanche raids and other mortal perils with the unique courage that forged the character of the American West. Rich in authentic details of daily life and etched with striking character portraits of very different pioneer families, this action-packed novel is also the story of a powerful, enduring love between Sarah and the dashing cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot. Neither the vast distances traveled nor the harsh and killing terrains could quench the passion between them, and the loss and loneliness both suffer only strengthen their need for each other. While their love grows, the heartbreak and wonder of the frontier experience unfold in scene after scene: a wagon-train Sunday spent roasting quail on spits as Indians close in to attack; Sarah's silent encounter with an Indian brave, in which he shows her his way of respect; a dreadful discovery by a stream that changes Sarah forever; the hazards of a visit to Phoenix, a town as hot as the devil's frying pan; Sarah's joy in building a real home, sketching out rooms and wraparound porches. Sarah's incredible story leads us into a vanished world that comes vividly to life again, while her struggles with work and home, love and responsibility resonate with those every woman faces today. These Is My Words is a passionate celebration of a remarkable life, exhilarating and gripping from the first page to the last.

These Is My Words The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901

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