Off My Rocker:

Recommendations from a Book Nut

Women Who Do
(December 2008)

"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." Attributed to Charlotte Whitton

THE ALL-TRUE TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF LIDIE NEWTON, by Jane Smiley

Lydia Harkness, spinster of Quincy, Illinois, observes the death and burial of her father without much grief as her many married sisters consider what to do with her.

When quiet Thomas Newton of Massachusetts lingers in Quincy on his way to the Kansas Territory, which becomes a character in its own right, he meets and marries the un-domestic, but brave, tall and strong Lydia.

Seduced by posters and flyers describing the beauty and "gentle climate" of K.T., Thomas and Lydie continue West together to stake their claim.

Thomas has a second agenda however; he is smuggling Sharps rifles into K.T. to arm the Free Staters as K.T. works out whether it will become a slave-holding state or not.

If the book is longer than it needs to be, the characters are real and realistically flawed and Lydie's observations on life, marriage, poverty and war are entertaining and moving.

BOLD SPIRIT: HELGA ESTBY’S FORGOTTEN WALK ACROSS VICTORIAN AMERICA, by Linda Hunt

In 1896 Helga Estby, a 36-year-old Norwegian immigrant, faced a situation not unknown in our own time: the family farm was about to go into foreclosure. To save it she took the daring, unwomanly step of responding to a $10,000 wager by unknown sponsors to leave her husband and many children to walk across the United States starting in Spokane and intending to end up in New York City by way of Canton and Alliance Ohio.

The terms of the wager were that she had to walk, had to wear "rational dress," and had to finance the journey herself.

This is a true tale of hope, endurance, and danger and you can read about in the Alliance Daily Review, November 30, 1896, page 4.

SILVER TOUCH, by Rosalind Laker

In this tale based on a real female silversmith in 18th Century England, Hester Needham goes from rags to, if not riches as least a comfortable solvency.

Poor, illiterate Hester's mother dies when Hester is 12 and she is shipped off to live with her brother in London. A few years later Hester meets apprentice goldsmith, John Bateman who loses his place for love of her.

The Batemans live in poverty for some time before they can scrape together enough to set up shop. When they do, John teaches Hester to craft precious metals for the carriage trade.

This is the story of one woman’s strength, intelligence and perseverance.

More titles about "women who do" for your reading enjoyment are Leaving Earth : A Novel, by Helen Humphreys, Prophetess : A Novel, By Barbara Wood, and Passion Of Artemisia, By Susan Vreeland