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The lost wife  Cover Image Book Book

The lost wife / Susanna Moore.

Moore, Susanna, (author.).

Summary:

"Minnesota, 1862: As a woman fleeing from a dark and secret past, Sarah Wakefield leaves Rhode Island quietly and quickly under cover of night for the long journey to Minnesota where she has been advised there is good work to be had. She soon finds a husband who becomes a resident physician for a Sioux town there but the political backdrop of that moment is volatile: white settlers are breaking treaties, Native American land is shrinking, and mass starvation and disease looms over the Sioux community. As the earliest settlers in this area, Sarah anticipates unease and tension, but instead she finds acceptance and kinship. Through the caring Sioux women, Sarah learns to cook, make clothes, speak the Sioux language, and ultimately finds companionship with the women which far exceeds that with her strange and distant husband. But the Sioux aren't receiving what they were promised from the White settlers, and a succession of devastating treaty breaks result in widespread famine, territory loss and conflict. What follows is one of the most influential Native uprisings of all time, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. As the war erupts around her, Sarah is separated from her husband, and rescued by the Sioux who are seeking safety from the fighting, and ultimately a home that was stolen from them. She will heroically but unsuccessfully try to protect them during the Dakota Trial that ensues. Intimate, raw, compelling and brilliantly subversive, Susanna Moore explores a complicated history of female captivity and Native American suffering"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780385351430
  • ISBN: 0385351437
  • Physical Description: 171 pages ; 22 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023.
Subject: Women pioneers > Minnesota > Fiction.
Frontier and pioneer life > Minnesota > Fiction.
Dakota Indians > History > 19th century > Fiction.
Dakota War, Minnesota, 1862 > Fiction.
Sioux Nation > Fiction.
Genre: Historical fiction.
Novels.

Available copies

  • 12 of 12 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at De Soto.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 12 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
De Soto Public Library F MOORE Susanna (Text) 33858000016793 Adult Fiction Available -

Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 9780385351430
The Lost Wife : A Novel
The Lost Wife : A Novel
by Moore, Susanna
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Summary

The Lost Wife : A Novel


Drawn partly from a true story, a searing, totally immersive novel about a devastating Native American revolt, and a woman caught in the middle of the conflict. In the summer of 1855, Sarah Brinton abandons her husband and child to make the long and difficult journey to Minnesota, where she will meet a childhood friend. Arriving at a small frontier post on the edge of the prairie, she discovers that her friend has died of cholera. Without work or money or friends, she quickly finds a husband who will become the resident physician at an Indian agency on the Yellow Medicine River. As one of the earliest settlers in the area, Sarah anticipates unease and hardship, but instead finds acceptance and kinship with the Sioux women who live on the nearby reservation. She learns to speak their language, nourishing a companionship with them which far exceeds that which she shares with her strange and distant husband. An endless flow of White settlers are clearing the forests and claiming land. The government has yet to pay the Sioux the annuities awarded them each July for the sale of the land, and starvation and disease begin to decimate the Sioux community. What inevitably and tragically follows is the Sioux Uprising of 1862. While seeking safety at a nearby fort, Sarah and her two young children are abducted by Sioux warriors. They are unexpectedly kept safe by one of the men, who protects them until their rescue six weeks later by federal troops. Because of her sympathy for the Sioux, Sarah has become an outcast, falsely accused of marriage with her Native American captor. Vilified by the whites and despised by her husband, she is lost to both worlds. Intimate, raw, compelling, and brilliantly subversive, Susanna Moore explores the history of Native American suffering and the rapacious settlement of the Western frontier.

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