What praise can I give Laura Frantz’s An Uncommon Woman that
hasn’t been given? She has written with beauty and precision the kind of story
that absolutely grips me in this frontier tale. I was thoroughly swept away
into a world of danger, humanity, and romance.
Frantz’s characters, especially
that of Tessa, the story’s heroine, shine through with the sort of vivid personality all writers want to capture, but not all do. When I
met Tessa, it wasn’t long before I realized that the cover artist had rendered her perfectly. See that expression on her face? Know that when you read this book, you'll envision her just like that.
You'll clearly imagine other characters like Tessa’s aunt, “a fearsome wrinkle
of a woman”, her brave and sometimes impetuous brothers, her long-lost and
unusual childhood friend, and of course the hero Clay, called “Ghost Eyes” by
the natives, because “his blue eye, it sees heaven. His brown eye, earth.”
I was also pleased with the creative yet accurate way that
Ms. Frantz rendered some actual historical characters in the story, especially
the volatile Simon Girty, someone with whom most modern readers are probably
not very familiar. His presence immediately set me on edge. (If you know much of Simon Girty, it'll do the same to you.)
The peril of the times and the situations settlers faced in
that over-mountain wilderness enthralls me. I can’t imagine their level of endurance. Ms. Frantz portrays such with beauty and truth, and she doesn’t shy away
from harsh realities. An Uncommon Woman was an uncommon book, provoking in turns happiness, sadness, and content. This may have become my favorite of Laura's books,
hearkening back to the likes of The Frontiersman’s Daughter and A Moonbow Night.
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