Touched a cord in my heart. ( )

In A Lantern in Her Hand, Abbie accompanies her family to the soon-to-be-state of Nebraska. There, in 1865, she marries and settles into her own sod house. The novel describes Abbie's years of child-raising, of making a frontier home able to withstand every adversity.

A Disciplined writer knowledgeable about true stories of pioneer days in Nebraska, Bess Streeter Aldrich conveys the strength of everyday things, the surprise of familiar faces, and the look of the unspoiled landscape during different seasons. Refusing to be broken by hard experience, Abbie sets a joyful example for her family—and for her readers. ( )

Fun, good but doesn't compare to Willa Cather in my world...but I LOVE Willa Cather...so.... ( )

A Lantern in her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich was a book that I read and loved when much younger and I was looking forward to reading about the life of pioneer Abby Deal once again. Born in Iowa in the mid-1800’s, she and her husband Will moved to Nebraska and homesteaded there. This book paints an accurate picture of the hardships encountered and endurance required in pioneer life. As a woman, Abby was constantly sacrificing her dreams for those of her husband and children, starting out with her husband overriding her concerns about striking out on their own, leaving friends and family behind.

I could certainly see why I loved this book when I first read it as it is truly a heartwarming story of a pioneer family, but as an adult, I would have liked a little more depth and insight into the characters. Abby Deal is first and foremost a woman of strength and tenacity, meeting and overcoming all obstacles that were placed in front of her. I love the name of this book as it paints a vivid picture of how the pioneer women would step outside in the dark with a lantern to guide their menfolk home across the flat prairies.

A Lantern in Her Hand is a simple story that highlights the choices and sacrifices that pioneer women were faced with. Originally published in 1928, the author based Abby on her own mother and A Lantern in Her Hand is obviously a tribute to her. ( )

Addie Deal is a young bride with a toddler and a new baby on the way when her husband announces that the best way for them to get out from under his parents’ thumb is to move to Nebraska. There, she and her husband Will give their five children a happy upbringing despite constant hard work and privation, especially in the early years. They experience, for instance, an actual plague of locusts. All of Abbie’s early dreams of “doing something” with her voice, playing the organ, learning to paint, or writing gradually wither and come to nothing. The compensation is watching, in later life, the success of both her children and the state of Nebraska, which she has seen grhinkw from almost nothing.

Frankly, I think this book’s time has passed. It was hard not to feel that the best years of Abbie’s life were used up in grindingly hard work and what is supposed to be her reward, the comfort of her later years, seemed inadequate—most of her children seem not to entirely understand her and vice versa. Even her dream of seeing her grandmother’s pearls worn by a daughter or granddaughter in full glory winds up falling rather flat. The marriage between Abbie and Will is a nice enough love story in its way, but he never provided for her as she deserved. On the other hand, the relationship between Abbie and her neighbor Christine Reinmuller, a stern immigrant with braids wrapped around her head, is one of the most interesting parts of the book. Thrown together by circumstances and their dependence on each other, their friendship spans nearly sixty years even though they have little in common and are hardly kindred spirits. ( )