The Children's Blizzard
Domestic fiction
Delacorte Press
January 12, 2021
Hardcover
368
Purchased
The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats--leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm?
Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers--one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. It's also the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. It is Woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. Boosters needed immigrants to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told them to get them there--or whose land it originally was.
At its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. It is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today--because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country.
My review:
Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this blizzard that killed so many in the Dakota territories in 1888? Maybe I just missed it in my schooling (I'll admit history was never my forte), or is it because those who were effected were immigrants, lured to settle land that was mostly uninhabitable at that time? Whatever the case, this novel was a gripping tale of something I hate......blizzards! I may not be a history buff, but living in VT more than half of my life, I certainly can attest to snow, ice, wind, cold, you name it. This book did a fantastic job of making you feel like you were in the story as these children and their teachers navigated their way blindly through the storm. Roughly the first half of the book deals with the storm, and in the last we follow its aftermath, particularly with regard to three characters. The book deals with joy, with grief, and especially with guilt. The only minor issue I had was with one of the supporting characters, who is changed by the storm. I didn't find it believable that her personality would transform so drastically. Other than that, and the fact that I definitely enjoyed the parts dealing with surviving during the blizzard more than the aftermath, this was compulsively readable with characters you came to care and root for.
A little known piece of history rapped up in a well crafted story, make this a wonderful read. May I suggest reading it on a stormy winter day? Too much.......you're probably right 🙂 It will definitely make you feel better about all the comforts we are awarded today, compared to back then.
Little House on the Prairie had an episode on it. At the time I saw it, I didn't realize it was based on a true story.
And I probably watched that episode and it went in and out of my head! I wonder if it was mentioned in the book series? Hmmmm, now you may have slipped me down the rabbit hole!