"If you are an adventurous young woman of high moral character and fine health, are you willing to travel to California in search of a good husband?" The Ministers of the Gospel will escort these eligible women to the gold mines of Goosetown in the California Diggings. It's 1852 and Maggie realizes that this opportunity may be her ticket out of Chicago. How will she convince them to take her with them and that she is a good Christian woman of highest principles when she has a young daughter and no husband?

Maggie soon joins forty-three other women on the perilous 2,000-mile journey west. Limited supplies, possessions, and comforts, the women face challenges that none of them expect. Who among them will survive and what will the future bring when they arrive at their destination?

I read this book on a long airplane ride and laughed and cried. Dallas brings her characters to life and I was drawn into the story from the very beginning. Her book, Prayers for Sale is a favorite of mine, so I couldn't wait to read this one. I was not disappointed and will recommend it to all of my historical fiction lovers. Would I have survived had I chosen to accept the challenge to join this group of women? Probably not, but I would like to think that I have it in me to contribute in some way and to sacrifice everything to start a new life. The friendships forged in this unlikely group of women highlights the ability in all of us to overcome our differences and support each other.

Available January 7, 2020

***** 4 stars, Loved it: The bonds of the women and the power of sisterhood in Westering Women makes this a powerful read.



Recommended readers:

If you like novels of women overcoming adversity
If you like a historical read that ties into real events
If you like strong female characters
Here's my Rankings:

5/5 for characters
4/5 for plot
4/5 overall
REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER:
During the famous Gold Rush, two reverends decide to take 40 women from Chicago to California to find husbands. A woman escaping a past, Maggie has a  young daughter and a desperate need to get away from Chicago. Others find the 2,000 mile journey more  appealing than their life at home too. 

Westering Women is a powerful story of women, many abused and some hunted, who become stronger together - even as they face the devastating Overland Trail. The bonds of the women and the power of sisterhood in Westering Women is touching to the point of tears, overcoming the heartbreak of loss and pride of making the journey West.

Available January 7, 2020: Westering Women

Lately I've seen quite a few books I'm calling "me too" novels. This is better than most of them.
Many of the "Westering Women" who join a wagon train heading for California are more interested in escaping an abusive man than they are in finding a husband. Even the strongest among them, Mary Madrid, was stripped of her property rights and forced to act as a servant and farmhand by her brother and his wife. Others were beaten and abused in other ways by men they had trusted. Over the hard trail to California the women bond, become sisters, and protect one another.
Sandra Dallas isn't content with just one hot button social issue, she also throws in a dash of racial injustice, detailing the kind of behavior we all know was prevalent in 1852, and still much too common today.
As I general rule, I like my novels served up without obvious lessons included. But "Westering Women" is well written and researched. A good read.

Westering Women is a perfect portrayal of the pioneering spirit. It is a narrative of strength, resilience and grit and the women who dared to step outside the conventions that society had chosen for them in search of something more. They may have set out to find husbands but with each step they found themselves.

Our story begins in 1850s Chicago, a time when emphasis was placed on women being things, not doing them. In making the decision to leave behind their lives in Chicago for California many of the women are running towards something, a future and family, but just as many are running away.

Through both story and writing style the author has demonstrated that it's the journey and not the destination that is important. There is a lot of attention given to the day-to-day monotony and hardship that these people faced on their trek out West, creating a more realistic and less romantic picture of the settlers journey. Facing everything from illness to weather to hostile natives and entitled men, the women encounter trial after trial on the trail. But as they overcome each obstacle they also discover freedom, friendship and their own capability.

I really enjoyed the diversity of characters in the group as well as the growth they each exhibited over the long months. I feel like it really help to round out the story and create a more accurate portrait of nineteenth-century America. I also really enjoyed the way that the author included specific landmarks and natural wonders that would have made such a trip more bearable and exciting. My favorite part though was probably how the Women and their wagon train went from being a spectacle to being respected, and how upon finally arriving in California they were treated like people and given the choice of what they did next, instead of being treated as a commodity for the miners to acquire.

I’ve read a few of Sandra Dallas’ other novels (including The Diary of Mattie Spenser, which I adored) and was so excited to see she had another one coming out. I am fascinated by stories like these and love how she makes the stories of women living 150 years ago so relatable to us today.

Maggie is fleeing an abusive husband when she signs up to travel west, across the Overland Trail, with a duo of preachers who intend to carry women to marry and civilize the miners in California during the Gold Rush. For many in the party, such a dangerous crossing and uncertain future beat what they were leaving behind in Chicago. I found Maggie to be an endearing character and I couldn’t stop crying during several parts of the book. Dallas writes so convincingly of the plight of poor women in the 19th century and really conveys how few choices were open to them.

I loved how this group of women grew stronger and more confident, and were brave enough to carve out their own destinies using the few tools at their disposal. Dallas writes emotional and empowering novels about women for women, and this was no exception. I enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book!

It’s 1852 and Maggie sees adds all over Chicago for suitable women to move to the gold town of Goosetown. Eager to escape her past and start again, she packs up her daughter and gets ready to make the trip. But she’s not alone, 43 women are joining her, all eager to have a second chance at life. The journey is harder than anything they could have imagined and during that trip, the women become family and learn they are not alone at all. A remarkable story that surely played out hundreds of times comes to life under Dallas’s Pen

Westering Women is Sandra Dallas' finest book yet. Dallas captures the essence of life on the overland trail to California in 1852 so accurately, but with one twist. This story is about a wagon train comprised of Chicago women intended to be brides for California miners. The writing is superb. Readers will experience the travails of overland travel: every loss, every jettisoned object, every wrenching wail for the dead. They will also delight with the women in the beauty of the rugged landscape, the promise of a better life, and the kinship of hearty, determined female pioneers. There were many surprises in the story that I wasn't prepared for, including a revelation at the very end. My favorite character was Mary, the infatiguable, inspiring champion of the westward spirit. No one tells a western story like Dallas. Many thanks to J.H. At St. Martins Press for the advance copy..