Review of A Clearing in the Wild

I am fascinated by history, but I don't often read historical fiction.  I find some books not very believable or realistic, but that was not the case with A Clearing in the Wild, a book set in the 1850s.  The book is told from the perspective of Emma Wagler Geisy, who is a member of the Bethel Colony, a community of Christians living in Missouri who are skeptical of the "outside world" and the evils and sin it contains.  Emma is outspoken and doesn't often agree with the colony's attitude toward women, so when her husband is chosen to be a scout to choose a new location for the colony in the West (Oregon, Washington), she finds a way to go along.

The story is based on fact, and it's hard to know what really happened and what the author imagined, but I was impressed with the little details about life in the 1850s that the author included - like how Emma would have learned what worked as diapers for her baby from the Indians of the area, what was safe to eat, and what to expect from various seasons.  The book gives a glimpse into the choices that the scouts had to make when choosing a new location, how they solved conflict, and the hard, back-breaking work that was created to carve a living out the wilderness.  When the Leader of the colony comes west and doesn't fully approve of the choice of settlement, Emma and her husband have to make hard decisions that determine their family's future with the colony.

I would recommend this book as a very good read, and hope that the rest of the series is just as good.  I learned some United States history, and a lot about what life was really like in the 1850s. 


I received this book for free from Waterbrook in exchange for my honest review.