by Melanie Benjamin

Four stars – a fast start, a long finish…

Verdict: A well-written piece of historical fiction that most readers will enjoy. It does a great job of immersing the reader in middle America (the Great Plains) with immigrant homesteaders during and following the blizzard of 1888. There were some pacing and plot issues for me but not enough to not recommend this book.

What’s it about? Out on the “godforesaken” plains, two young school teachers are about to dismiss their students for the day when a “terrifying” blizzard arrives without warning. The children are without their heavy coats due to the unusually mild conditions earlier in the day, and the school house is a good distance from their homes. Who wouldn’t want to know what happens next?

The story is mostly about Raina and Gerda Olsen, two teenage sisters, who are school teachers in different parts of the Dakota and Nebraska territories. Both are boarding with other homesteaders in order to have a job as a teacher. The book begins quickly with both having to make life and death decisions for themselves and their students when the surprise blizzard arrives. Should they keep the children inside the drafty and poorly constructed one room school houses with the chance of running low on wood for their stoves and freezing to death – or should they send the children home, hoping they won’t get lost in the white-out conditions. The decisions at this moment will impact the survivors for the rest of their lives.

Alas, this is also the story of 11-year-old Anette Pedersen, a servant girl, sold by her parents to an uncaring family (who also board Raina, one of the teachers). We follow Anette in her miraculous journey through the blizzard and in its aftermath. Her story is probably the most heart-wrenching in the novel.

And it is also the story of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman from back East who spent the last few years writing highly embellished stories for state boosters and railroads interests to lure northern European immigrants to the “Garden of Eden,” the Nebraska Territory. His is a story of redemption for helping to bring these settlers to a “pitiless land,” and young Anette becomes his vehicle for that redemption.

The book is based on a real event and oral histories of survivors. The original storm was called the Schoolhouse Blizzard or the Children’s Blizzard because so many either perished or suffered great injury.

The Story (plot and character): The majority of the story is told in third person from various POVs including the teachers Raina and Gerda, newspaperman Gavin Woodson, and the very young servant girl Anette Pedersen.

The book starts off with a bang. After a few introductory chapters to set the stage and introduce the characters, the blizzard arrives in the book almost as it is described in real life – a fast, early surprise for the reader! And the plot and pace race through the blizzard as the characters make tough decisions, suffer greatly, and directly face the blizzard’s peril. The author does an excellent job of allowing the reader to see the world through these characters. Their emotions, actions and reactions, and the impact of the social and physical environment on their lives are well done. The characters are brilliantly developed with all the warts and beauty of what you see in real life. The fathers are not all heroes, the mothers are not the protectors of all, and the children have more than simple minds.

But then there is the second half of the book. How do you sustain such a story in the aftermath? In a typical tale, we’d build up to the blizzard, and it would likely be the climax. Yet much of this story occurs in the aftermath. We obviously want to know what happens to these main characters (and others). Yet the book almost seems like two stories: the fast-paced, blizzard followed by a drawn-out this-is-what-happened-to-these-folks story. The first half occurs mostly in a matter of hours (days if you include some of the first few introductory chapters) while the second half occurs over years. That cut into my rating a bit but it’s not a huge issue.

What’s good about the book? The writing is wonderful – her style of fictional prose seems just right, balancing the plainness of the language and environment of the day with descriptive narrative that places you in the story. In short, it’s not too plain and not too flowery.

The setting and plot are nicely woven together. Though the story is historical fiction, the author succeeds in her own stated desire to tell the story behind the story. There’s just enough historical background to help the reader learn about the period and the associated challenges while keeping to the heart of the story. And a blizzard in the heart of America in the 1800s is of great personal interest to me.

Characters are well developed, and such as in real life, have all the flaws and goodness we readers can identify with. Though I didn’t closely identify with any one particular character, I think some readers will.

What was not so good? As stated above, it felt like two books in one. There were also a few places in the second half of the book where the plot lagged or jumped around a bit. Some readers have stated that the number of characters was an issue; it was not for me.

There were also a few spots where the characters seem to act out of period, like they had today’s beliefs and culture. Still not real bothersome….it IS fiction.

Bottom line: This is a good read. It gives the reader the fictional opportunity of experiencing the tough life of the homesteaders of the 1880s while throwing in a blizzard to boot. I recommend it.