The Grass Widow

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: A wonderful story that defines great literature. Ms. Little has captured real life in the 1800's with the hardships and heartaches of genuine characters. Her use of period language and phrasing makes this a 'Steinbeck' type read. The two women in this novel are captivating and realistic. I can't say enough about this story. I felt like I was there with them. I am now going on my 7th reading.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, Warm, Spellbinding
Review: Grass Widow is a wonderful lesbian romance novel, set in the 1870s in an unforgiving rural Kansas, and peopled by independent and tenaciously loving women. Nanci Little has done a superb job in capturing the harshness and pleasures of everyday life back then and the political issues of the day. What impressed me the most, and added greatly to the novel's interest and intelligence, was the thought given to the personalities and emotional development of the principal characters. They have deep flaws, but their essential goodness and willingness to learn and change win out in the end.

Little has written an excellent novel. She captures the nuances of personality, speech and mannerisms as few authors can. And the love scenes will take your breath away.

Rating:
Summary: A suprise
Review: I was in a hurry when I went to the library to get a book. I just grabbed at this one because it looked interesting etc. I never really read the back cover. So I got home and sat down with a cup of tea, and started to read. It started out fine. But as the book progressed, I got a little 'confused'. I was expecting a kind of romance but certainly not a lesbian romance. My family thought it rather funny when they found out what I was reading : ) Anyway, being the kind of person who, once I start a book, I am determined to finish it, no matter what, I kept on with it. And while I think the writing is very good, as are the characters, I really did feel a bit uncomfortable. My mind kept picturing Joss as a man, not a woman. It is probably unfair of me, as I certainly have nothing against lesbianism or anything. And so, while I see how a lesbian would love this book, as it is beautifully written, for me, I think I'll stick to Danielle Steele ... : )

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary story of two women in love
Review: Nanci Little's THE GRASS WIDOW is the tenderest of lesbian love stories, set against the harshness of Kansas in the 1870s. I cherish this novel, and have read it 4 or 5 times so far. With each visit, I find more to love. // Ms. Little's central characters are a young farmer, Jocelyn (Joss) Bodett, and her distant cousin from Maine, Aidan Blackstone, who comes to live with her. With no precedents for their feelings or their actions, they fall deeply in love. // These are young women of tremendous strength, who must find their own way in a world that challenges them frequently and severely. Yet they triumph with a resounding clarity of will, perseverence, and love. Through the strength of their love, they overcome both their harsh environment and their society's conventions and restrictions.// This book is reminiscent of the wonderful PATIENCE AND SARAH by Isabel Miller. If there is any justice in the world, it will become as beloved in the lesbian community as P&S, for it provides an even clearer look into another time and place, and its characters are even more wonderfully drawn. // This is an exquisite novel that is most definitely NOT to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: an exquisite, moving, tender love story
Review: This is a story I have read more than once and will go back to again. The detail of the time and era, to a foreigner, sets the backdrop and the scene in such a way that I was able to be there in my imagination, but never to the point where I forgot the overwhelming theme of the struggles and hardships that the women encountered. Nor the love they faced, accepted and grew with. A very brave story, told with equally brave passion and courage. Passionate pioneering women are scarce on the ground and Nanci Little has captured two that deserve a second look.