Book Review: The Beautiful Snow by Cindy Wilson

If you're a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Little House books, or pioneer history, you'll want to grab a copy of The Beautiful Snow by Cindy Wilson.

If you've read the Little House books, you will recall The Long Winter, where Wilder describes the winter of 1880 - 81 and her family's struggle to survive when blizzards from October through April cut off the railroad town of De Smet, SD from essential supplies.

Wilson's thoroughly researched account of that hard winter, weaves history through Wilder's fictionalized tale, focusing on the weather, the railroads, and the pioneering spirit that kept the settlers holding on until the trains finally arrived in May.

Wow! What a book. It's not a book I could read in one or even two sittings. Wilson does a fabulous job of providing so much information that you need time to digest it.

The introductions and background set the stage for a month by month journey through that hard winter of 1880-81. Each month starts off with a calendar that shows weather reports compiled by various newspaper articles. The Beautiful Snow brings you through that period of American history as settlers were wooed into moving west and following the railroad, all to be stranded on the unforgiving prairie once the blizzards started. Historical figures, maps, photos, and informative sidebars add to the reading experience, truly immersing you in the time period. The epilogue and various appendices provide additional information that rounds out this account perfectly.

Though I definitely believe this is a book for Wilder fans, history lovers and those interested in the history of the American railroads will enjoy The Beautiful Snow. I will treasure this book as part of my ever-growing Laura Ingalls Wilder collection.

Highly recommended!


Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press (February 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1643439057
ISBN-13: 978-1643439051

I purchased a copy of this book in January 2020. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Connecting Free Land and The Long Winter

A strange thing happened to me last night as I sat in the tub reading Free Land. I actually thought for several pages I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter. While the names and some of the events were portrayed differently, there were many of the same details Laura had spoken of in her novel.

It was freaky to hear of David Beaton and his friends the Peters family--who he lived with during that hard winter--hauling hay from claim shanties, twisting the hay for fuel, hovering around the stove for warmth as the blizzards raged outside, constantly grinding seed wheat in the coffee mill, and even making a lamp made from a rag dipped in axle grease. All of these things happen in The Long Winter within the Ingalls' house.

Now, we writers know that ideas are a dime a dozen and that there are no patents on them, but in The Ghost in the Little House, Holtz claimed Laura may have had a problem with Rose using what Mama Bess saw as "her" material. So, I find it odd that Rose would use this part of family history and publish it in 1938, while Laura was working on her own books and The Long Winter was published in 1940.

I can't imagine that readers at the time didn't make some kind of connection between the two--maybe they did. Granted, the Hard Winter is only part of Free Land, whereas Laura's book is entirely focused on that one winter and the hardships the town endured.

One good thing about Rose using this material--I was able to get all the way up to page 171 in Free Land because I liked the story.

Look for more comments about Free Land as I read through to the end.

The Long Winter - Book Review

This book review did not appear at my blog--at least not in this form. I reread this book by Laura Ingalls Wilder while I was reading William Holtz's biography of Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. This is my favorite book out of the Little House series and I figured I would share my thoughts with you.

Cheryl

*

On the Dakota prairie, the muskrats built their thick-walled houses and the geese flew south with great haste, not even stopping to rest in the Big Slough. Pa Ingalls watched these signs and worried of what they foretold.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder continues the saga of the Ingalls family--pioneers who continued to move west until they finally settled in the new town of De Smet in Dakota Territory. A surprise October blizzard leaves Pa fearful for his family’s safety as their claim shanty is in no condition to withstand the seven months of storms a wise Indian has warned them of.

Pa moves Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace into the store building in town so they can be snug and warm, and close to supplies. But the constant blizzards, sometimes only a day or two apart, keep the trains from reaching De Smet. There is no coal, no kerosene, no flour, and no game to hunt. The men go to work on sunny days with picks and shovels, trying to clear the Tracy cut so that the trains can get through to the townspeople who are slowly wasting away. Then the word comes--no trains until spring, and the people of De Smet wonder how long they can survive.

The days are filled with chores and lessons. Ma, Mary, Laura, and Carrie take turns grinding seed wheat in the coffee mill while Pa hauls hay from the claim. Pa and Laura, and sometimes even Ma and Mary twist hay to feed the fire. They eat only two meals a day and go to bed early to save hay and food. Laura notices how pale Carrie looks these days. The store shelves are empty and there are no wages because there has been no work since the trains shut down.

Cap Garland and Almanzo Wilder, who runs the feed store with his older brother Royal, set off on an early clear morning to find a farmer south of town who might have plenty of seed wheat to sell. It is a cold, long trip as their horses and sleds fall into deep snow drifts and have to be dug out. They run alongside their sleds, stamping their feet and slapping their hands against their frozen bodies to prevent frostbite.

They hustle to pack sixty bushels of seed wheat onto their sleds and make it back to town before the next storm. They spy a blizzard cloud in the northwest, blotting out stars one by one. They push their tired horses faster while the townspeople of De Smet worry over Cap’s and Almanzo’s fate, and the wheat that might keep them from starvation.

The reason I am drawn to this book is because of its wonderful descriptions. Wilder paints a clear picture of what it was like to live in Dakota Territory during that harsh winter. From the hunger for food, to the frost covered nails on the roof of her house, to the piercing screams of the constant blizzards, Wilder pulls me in. I feel the pain Laura experiences as she watches her family suffer through the dangers of living in a new town where not even rabbits can be hunted for food. I admire Almanzo and Cap as they risk their lives to save the townspeople. And I join in the excitement of waiting for that first train to arrive after months of no supplies.

A book of courage against seemingly insurmountable odds makes The Long Winter a must read for all Laura Ingalls Wilder fans.