These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 in Retro Chapter Chicks

Oct 20, 2014 Candi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, westerns

"A storm is rolling in, and that always makes me a little sad and wistful so I got it in my head to set to paper all these things that have got us this far on our way through this heathen land. Its been a sorrowful journey so far and hard and so if we don’t get to San Angelo or even as far as Fort Hancock I am saving this little theme in my cigar box for some wandering travelers to find and know whose bones these is."

I was so eager to read this book, described as a “heartfelt American saga” whic "A storm is rolling in, and that always makes me a little sad and wistful so I got it in my head to set to paper all these things that have got us this far on our way through this heathen land. Its been a sorrowful journey so far and hard and so if we don’t get to San Angelo or even as far as Fort Hancock I am saving this little theme in my cigar box for some wandering travelers to find and know whose bones these is."

I was so eager to read this book, described as a “heartfelt American saga” which is set in the Arizona Territories during the late 1800s. Then I opened and began to read the first several pages and was instantly struck by a feeling of doom. So much misery and suffering – how could I possibly get through this? But, at the same time, I was immediately drawn to Sarah’s voice as she shares her tale through a series of journal entries. I just had to know her story and learn what would become of her during these difficult times. After all, it would not have made much sense if her life was breezy and carefree. Then she lightened the load for me a bit by throwing in some wit. I became attached to Sarah, her family and the charismatic Captain Jack Elliott. I was entranced by the landscape and was lured by the sense of adventure. In short, I was hooked.

Sarah is truly a memorable character. Feisty, hard-working and hungry for learning, she perseveres in a formidable and unforgiving frontier. I loved her yearning to read and write. She begins as an uneducated young girl with a dream to someday attend school. Her journal writing is at first unrefined. As she begins to acquire and read books, she little by little advances her own education and her writing becomes more polished, though it never loses its spirit. When she meets Captain Jack Elliot, she is maddened by him and his sense of authority. "That man makes me feel like I have my bonnet on backwards." He has something of hers that she wants back – a precious book about a “scarlet velvet woman”. Thus begins a lifelong “battle” to get the book back and a delightful relationship between a determined young woman, whom the Captain calls “The General”, and a courageous and honorable leader of men. "Captain Elliot has this recklessness about him, and a way of holding on that you don’t know he is holding on, and a way of laughing that is like he takes pleasure in the act of laughing itself. He is better to have around in a scrap than a trained wildcat, though."

This book shares with us the everyday life of those that struggled to make a place for themselves in a world filled with the unknown, the threat of conflicts arising between the Native Americans and the settlers, the risk of childbirth, scanty resources, and the danger of the surrounding wildlife. What I most admired in Sarah was her acceptance of others. She travelled and then lived side by side and in peace with people of skin color and religion different from her own – the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Native Americans. Her best friend was a Quaker while Sarah herself was a bit contrary when it came to “churchgoing”. What she could not tolerate was ignorance, not the unschooled variety but that of insensitivity and crudeness. She grew to understand some words of wisdom which were once spoken to her - "Education doesn’t keep a person from being a fool, and the lack of it doesn’t keep a person from being intelligent." I strongly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning more about life on the frontier with characters that will touch your heart. The story is simply told with some lovely quotes that really shined for me. Don’t forget the box of tissues.

"Sometimes I feel like a tree on a hill, at the place where all the wind blows and the hail hits the hardest. All the people I love are down the side a ways, sheltered under a great rock, and I am out of the fold, standing alone in the sun and the snow. I feel like I am not part of the rest somehow, although they welcome me and are kind. I see my family as they sit together and it is like they have a certain way between them that is beyond me. I wonder if other folks ever feel included yet alone."
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Jul 27, 2021 Maureen rated it really liked it

Shelves: summer-scrabble, hoopla

Wonderful epic saga. It is the story of Sarah Agnes Prine written as a diary from the journals of Nancy Turners’s ancestor. It portrays Sarah’s struggles with pioneer life in the Arizona Territory in the late 1880’s.
Sarah is a very courageous young woman, was only 17 when she began her journals as her family traveled from New Mexico to San Angelo, Texas.
She journalized her daily life describing death, illness, devastation and horrific Indian attacks.
I loved Sarah, she was a very determined to ...more

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Nov 19, 2019 Joanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction-read, pbt36-2019-read

This is the story of Sarah, beginning in childhood as she travels with her family across the U.S. Western Territories. The adventure and hardship hooked me immediately. Sarah, raised with only male siblings, becomes a strong, determined young woman.

Where Sarah ends up, and how she gets there-well you will have to read the book to find out. I will say-this book has a bit of something for all readers. A Family Saga, Romance, a history of the Southwestern States, before they were States.

While readi ...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Tasha rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, series-to-start

3.5 stars

While I enjoyed the read, it wasn't my favorite from this time in American history. I have read others I connected more with and fell in love with like Thirteen Moons and Jubilee Trail. Following those amazing works is hard but I still found this one enjoyable. I liked the MC although somehow I just didn't fully connect with her and at times I found the story lagging. Overall though, it gave a good impression of the hardships of life out West in the late 1800s. ...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Phair rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, western-setting, diary-journal-epistolary-novels

I do love books in diary/letter form. This was a great adventure both in the dangers faced and in her emotional life with weather, Indians, bad men, snakes, illness, accidents, love, marriage, death, heartaches & triumphs galore. I like the way we get other thoughts and points of view through Sarah's reports of conversations & inclusion of letters from others. I also loved the way her diary changes from the entries of a barely literate child to the more refined writings of a self-taught voracio ...more

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Jun 26, 2009 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, historical-fiction, family, texas, book-club, nature, concierge, strong-women, women-writers, western

A saga of the Arizona territory, told by Sarah Plines Reed Elliot, covering 1881-1901. It's written as a journal/diary, and Turner has a gift for the language of the times, painting vivid pictures of the hard life the pioneers endured. ...more

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