“Why do you spend so much time out there?”
“I don’t know.” I settle my head down onto the saddlebag. “Maybe because it’s the only time I don’t have to lie to anyone.”
This book follows Lee’s journey to California during the gold rush. It’s full of escapades like cows falling into rivers, frightening tales of Indians, children going missing, and Lee meeting and befriending new people.
Lee was an awesome, tough, well-rounded heroine. She flees her home and has to disguise herself as a boy so she can get a job on the trail. Lee’s parents were murdered and she is heartbroken by their deaths, but she doesn’t fall apart from grief as she has her friends, Jeff and Therese, to console her.
“My mama and daddy are a constant ache in me, even months later.”
Although Lee has a magical power to sense gold, don’t expect an action-packed story full of suspense and chase scenes.
The pacing was much slower than most YA novels, but surprisingly, I really liked the quiet plot that built a solid foundation for the characters and setting. This wasn’t an action-packed fantasy, but a story of so many people following the wagon train on a long, exhausting journey in search of gold.
The writing was absolutely gorgeous. Rae Carson’s stunning scenes and lovely words made it so easy to imagine the western setting and understand the characters’ struggles and hardships.
“The world has exploded with wildflowers—black-eyed Susans and blue chicory and yellow mustard—and the sun lounges heavy in the sky, casting the world in a golden haze.”
This was a slower, different kind of book than you’d normally find in the young adult genre, but I thought its unique tone was wonderful.
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