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A Sudden Country

by Karen Fisher

ISBN13: 9780812973433
ISBN10: 0812973437
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption.

James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudsons Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife deserts him and his children die of smallpox. In the grip of a profound sorrow, MacLaren, whose home once spanned a continent, sets out to find his wife. But an act of secret vengeance changes his course, introducing him to a different wife and mother: Lucy Mitchell, journeying westward with her family.

Lucy, a remarried widow, careful mother, and reluctant emigrant, is drawn at once to the self-possessed MacLaren. Convinced that he is the key to her familys safe passage, she persuades her husband to employ him. As their hidden stories and obsessions unfold, and pasts and cultures collide, both Lucy and MacLaren must confront the people they have truly been, are, and may become.

Alive with incident and insight, presenting with rare scope and intimacy the complex relations among nineteenth-century traders, immigrants, and Native Americans, A Sudden Country is, above all, a heroic and unforgettable story of love and loss, sacrifice and understanding.

From the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis:

In this sweeping novel based on the true events of the 1847 Oregon migration, this "instant classic" ("USA Today") follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength on a journey of survival and redemption.

About the Author

Karen Fisher has lived in the West as a teacher, wrangler, farmer, and carpenter. She now lives with her husband and their three children on an island in the Puget Sound.

From the Hardcover edition.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:

: Leon Aliski, January 19, 2012 (view all comments by Leon Aliski)
Fisher's Sudden Country hovers between the inner and outer realms of an epic journey!
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: Liza, December 3, 2009 (view all comments by Liza)
Based on journals written by her ancestors, Karen Fisher has written a novel of the Oregon migration of 1857. Full of wonderful characters, this book transported me, and it is still in my thoughts after closing the book. The book tells of the experiences of a woman travelling in a wagon train from Pennsylvania to Oregon with her husband and five children. If you loved COLD MOUNTAIN you will love this book.
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: naimashea, November 21, 2007 (view all comments by naimashea)
This is an absolutely LUMINOUS book. It takes a little while to get into it, maybe 50 pages or so, before it grabs you. Then it won't let go til the end. There is so much depth of character and insight into the complex and ambivalent nature of being human...there is no simplistic reductionist arraigning of our good and bad qualities and tendencies, and for this, I am personally grateful. Because life brings forth so many contradictory choices for all of us, and the characters in this book embody that razor's edge we all have to sometimes tread. This is a story that will continually surprise and sadden and delight you, and it will not be forgotten by this particular reader. Thank you, Ms. Fisher, for your depth of research and insight into the human condition. Beautifully written in such an unusual and unique style that I can't wait for her next book!
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780812973433
Author:: Fisher, Karen
Publisher:: Random House Trade
Subject:: Overland journeys to the pacific
Subject:: Runaway wives
Subject:: Westerns - General
Subject:: Love stories
Subject:: Women pioneers
Subject:: Western stories
Subject:: General Fiction
Subject:: Historical
Edition Description:: Trade paper
Publication Date:: 20060631
Binding:: TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Illustrations:: MAP
Pages:: 400
Dimensions:: 8.02x5.26x.90 in. .63 lbs.

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Featured Titles » Miscellaneous Award Winners
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
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