Along with trying to meet the challenges of life on the prairie, Bess flirts with romance as she struggles with her emotional needs and the knowledge that she is attracted to women rather than men.
But this unique young woman has a steely determination and true grit, and her story is the epitome of courage in a difficult and sometimes cruel time in the history of the west.
BESS
A Pioneer Woman's Journey of Courage, Grit and Love
by
Charles Cranston Jett
Charles Cranston Jett is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the Harvard Graduate School of Business. He served in the US Naval Nuclear Submarine Force and has thirty years' experience in the management consulting and executive recruiting world. A native of the Western Dakotas, Mr. Jett is also the author of WANTED: Eight Critical Skills You Need To Succeed: The Doom Loop; Field Studies; and Super Nuke! A Memoir About Life as a Nuclear Submariner and the Contributions of a "Super Nuke" the USS RAY (SSN653) Toward Winning the Cold War.
MY THOUGHTS
I would give this book 5 STARS.
Life back in the crude frontier would be difficult for even the most skilled and hardened man but one single woman? The land is rough, uncivilized in places and it takes survival skills to just barely make it. Bess is that woman. She is young and strong willed. She lives out in that wild frontier. She had grown up a rough and tumble tom boy. She can work right along side any man and perhaps put them to shame. At the same time, she can do all the chores that every woman back then had to do. The only thing is, when a man expresses interest in Bess, she just isn't interested back. She hasn't time for romance.
The author paints Bess as a totally different person than what you normally think of women back in the 1900's. The author gives the reader a strong, determined woman who doesn't necessarily need a man to take care of her. This journey in the Dakota frontier has it's ups and downs for Bess throughout the many changes, some good, some bad.
The world back then belonged to men, not women, especially a single woman. But Bess has nerve, she was brave and strong. The author gave background from some research which is evident along with actual documentation of the early life in the Dakota frontier.
Bess may have been one of the forerunners in the now feminist movement. She was setting the future in motion for women. She went it alone and gave it all in order to survive the vast frontier. You can't help but respect and admire her. The author gave such vivid descriptions of the Dakota frontier and the characters that you can picture it all in your mind. What would it be like to have been there? Bess has a hidden secret, something that was definitely taboo back in the 1900's. She had met a girl while on the train. Linda and Bess spend three days together and then Linda leaves for Montana.
Bess is a must read. She was definitely a "pioneer" in several fields. She was a one of a kind of woman back then, where as today, she wouldn't have been unique. She started setting the stage for the days ahead of her. What was to become a norm.
The author gives you a story that is based on a true person, Bess. If you love that sense of the wild frontier of the west back in the day, then you will love this book. Not just a single woman who is strong but the author brings out many characteristics that were new to people back then. Some were secrets that were kept quiet while today they are out in the open and strong women are everywhere.
I received a copy of this book from the author, Charles Cranston Jett and was under no obligation to review it. I voluntarily decided to give a review on it.
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