So Wide the Sky: A Heart-Soaring Novel of Destiny, Love, Courage and Family

Rating:
Summary: Suspended between two worlds, trying to find her way home.
Review: I just finished reading this novel and cannot say enough wonderful things about it. It is one of those books you wish would never end. The characters profoundly affect the reader, and the book seems more like a non-fictional account of life in the mid-nineteenth century than a fictional story. Briefly, SO WIDE THE SKY is about Cassandra Morgan--no spoilers here, this is from the book's back blurb--whose family is killed by Indians while traveling west on the Santa Fe Trail. She survives 9 years as an Indian captive and then is traded back to the whites. She returns towhite civilization indelibly marked by a tattoo proclaiming her an Indian slave, and therefore an outcast in the white world. Drew Reynolds, her first love, is now a West Point graduate and cavalry captain, part of the army force that exchanges provisions to the Indians for her. He hates all Indians, but feels honor-bound to marry her because of the past they shared. However, this Cassie is not the innocent girl he loved. Meanwhile, Lone Hunter Jalbert, the proud handsome half-Indian scout who befriends her and attempts to make her transition to the white world easier, desires Cassie for his own. He is truly the only one who understands what it is like to be caught between two worlds. This book is a keeper. I fear picking up any other book for the next several days, for it could never approach the quality of story-telling of this novel. This story of a woman trying to find her way home and the men she loves will not soon be forgotten. Laurel Chevlen [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: An Easy Read
Review: I just finished this book, and I found it a very easy read. It only took a afternoon to fly through it. It was a very interesting story line, but I dislike reading about a married woman who finds herself in love with another. If infidelity isn't your thing, this book might not be either.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent....
Review: So Wide the Sky, is the tale of Cassie, Morgan, an anglo woman who has spent her life in captivity by the Cheyenne and the Kiowa.

Cassie, bartered back to the Whites, because she is barren, has learned to live as an Indian, but now must learn to adapt to Anglo society.

I liked this book, because it gave a fairly well-balanced view of Native Americans. Indians are not portrayed as 'noble savages' or as 'vicious killers,' but are believable human characters.

Cassie's love for Drew and Hunter for different reasons, was also believable... However, neither of the male leads really grabbed me. Drew was overcome with rage, because of the Indian Attack which killed his parents, Hunter, the preferred lover had virtually no personality, and lacked definition. Cassie, stood out as the most well-defined and believable character.

This is another great character-driven 'prairie romance' for those who like to read about what life was like in the old west, but the romantic element was a little weak.

Naava