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Book Review: The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber & Giveaway
November 2nd, 2011
When a story opens with a family lowering one of their younger daughters into a well because they are desperate for water you become invested in the story quickly. That is exactly what happened to me with The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber. This novel takes you to another time and place in history when things were a lot tougher. When not getting rain meant life or death or even worse no food to feed your children. It is heart wrenching and real and an absolutely wonderful novel.
When Rachel first sets eyes on Isaac DuPree she is a cook in his mother’s boarding house. Rachel has always wanted a man with ambition and Isaac is exactly what she wants in a man. However he is not interested in marriage at all. All Isaac is interested in is owning land and it is in this that Rachel succeeds in getting Isaac to marry her. Rachel is able to stake a claim on her own piece of land and that is a huge attraction to Isaac. With this they strike a bargain. Isaac will marry her for her land and after a year she can leave and come home. Isaac never expects her to be able to survive the harsh life of the Badlands of South Dakota.
Isaac underestimates Rachel though. She’s a strong and ambitious woman. She wants a home and family and ultimately that is what she gets. Fourteen years later she has her children and her home. She and Isaac have built a life but it hasn’t been easy. The Badlands are a tough place to survive and prosper. The work is hard and there are very few women. Rachel finds herself lonely a lot of the time.
The drought and her latest pregnancy really steals Rachel’s spirit. She wants more for her children than this life. She wants them to experience friends and dances and most of all love. More and more she realizes that this won’t happen for them in the Badlands and Isaac will never agree to leave. Should she leave and go home to her mother? Will it be the best the best thing for her children? These are the decisions that Rachel has to make as she contemplates what is best for her and her children.
Ann Weisgarber writes of the landscape and harsh realities of the Badlands in such a realistic way that you feel you are there breathing in all that dust. You can feel your mouth dry and gritty because there is no water. Your stomach growls with hunger. You can see the vast openness of the land and feel the loneliness of living out in the middle of nowhere as a homesteader. I would definitely recommend this novel to those who enjoy reading about African American history and those who enjoy reading stories that take you back to the time when homesteaders struggled just to live. This is an excellent novel well worth reading!
I read The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber for her book tour with TLC Book Tours. You can see what others on the tour think of the novel here. Be sure to pop in and visit Ann’s website as well. You can purchase your own copy of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree here in the US and here in Canada.
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
I have one copy of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber to share with my readers. To enter…
- For 1 entry leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
- For 2 entries, follow my blog. If you already do, thank you, and please let me know in a comment so that I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
- For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.
This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on Saturday, November 26/11. Good luck!
My copy of The Personal History of Rachel DupPree by Weisgarber was received for review from TLC Book Tours and the publisher.
This sounds like a rather powerful book. One that tears at your heart strings. Eeep!
This book sounds great!!
Please enter me.
I am a follower.
I posted it on my sidebar.
forevereading at gmail dot com
This book sounds like one that I wouldn’t be able to put down. Thanks for the giveaway.
I follow via GFC.
Tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/lag32583/status/131689128243896321
Wow, this sounds like a very powerful book. Thanks for the giveaway!
I think I am going to be starting with this one next week for the tour, and can’t wait to get started with it. It sounds wonderful! Great review, Dar!
I loved this one too. I’m so glad to see you did as well!
Just added this to my TBR list!
I follow and I’ll retweet
I have not heard of this one but so glad to see it in a giveaway. Thanks!
Margaret
singitm@hotmail.com
I’m a follower
Margaret
singitm@hotmail.com
I can picture the family lowering the little girl into to well. This must be a very powerful book.
Please enter me in this giveaway.
CaroLNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I am a GFC follower of your blog.
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I tweeted:
http://t.co/DraLTzhg
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I would love to read this powerful book of times of hardship and love. Makes us think of how good we have it .
GFC follower – amhengst +1
GFC follower amhengst +2
This emotional novel would be memorable. many thanks.
I am an e-mail subscriber.
Sounds like my kind of book.
I am a follower.
A great giveaway. heartfelt and special. thanks.
I am an e-mail subscriber.
Great review for what sounds like a powerful book! Thanks for the giveaway -
PMNSL95 at triad dot rr dot com
I follow your blog via GFC as Patricia N
PMNSL95 at triad dot rr dot com
Tweet
https://twitter.com/#!/pmernick1/status/131802833774313472
PMNSL95 at triad dot rr dot com
Your review definitely makes me want to read this book! I’d love the chance to win it!
irbratb(@)gmail(.)com
I follow via GFC and email.
irbratb(@)gmail(.)com
TWEET: https://twitter.com/#!/irbratb/status/131806428485791744
irbratb(@)gmail(.)com
I’d love a chance to read this thanks.
i’m a follower thanks.
This book sounds just BRILLIANT! Thanks for teh great review! Please enter me in the giveaway. (BTW I am a follower)
Excellent review of this one…I must read it!!!
This sounds like a very interesting story. One that I would love to read.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I am a GFC follower
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Sounds great!
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com
I already follow you via gfc – mamabunny13
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com
tweet https://twitter.com/#!/mamabunny13/status/131897299923251200
mamabunny13 at gmail dot com
Sounds intense, wow. Thanks for the giveaway.
I am a GFC follower
sounds like a great story; please enter me
I follow on GFC
Darlene, thank you for this wonderful review. I’m thrilled and appreciate your willingness to read Rachel DuPree.
Just to share a little inside information, I got the idea for the well scene when I read a short essay written by a woman who had been lowered into a well to scoop water when she was a child. As soon as I read that, I pitched the original first chapter and started again.
Since publication, I’ve met people who told me their brothers had been put into wells to scrub the walls. They didn’t think a thing of it.
Times have changed and that’s fine with me!
Great review — I’m reading this for the tour and really looking forward to it — I spent some of my early teenage years in western South Dakota and found the landscape frightening and beautiful.
This one has been sitting on my Wish List for quite awhile now! Please count me in.
+1 I follow
+1 Blogged:
http://cerebralgirl.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-giveaways-in-blogworld-10-29-11.html
nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com
[...] Wednesday, November 2nd: Peeking Between the Pages [...]
Thanks for the great review for the tour! I’m featuring it on TLC’s Facebook page today.
I hadn’t heard of this book before. Just from your discription, I’m already emotionally invested in Rachel! I’d love to read it. New follower. GFC: Gabi
Sounds like a good read—please enter me to win!
I’m a GFC follower (skkorman)!
I tweeted this giveaway: https://twitter.com/#!/skkorman/status/132596639998291969
sounds like a great book – would love to win. I do follow your blog
Very good review. I’m anxious to read it.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
GFC Follower
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
This is the first I have heard of this book. Your review has me sold, Dar! I have never heard of people going down into wells either or sending their children down them. You caught me right away with that statement. I would love to read this book! Thanks for offering it as a giveaway.
bthgordon(at)yahoo(dot)com
I am also a google follower under bthgordon
bthgordon(at)yahoo(dot)com
This sounds like a really good read and like you I was instantly captured by the idea of lowering your child into a well for water. How interesting…I’m gonna have to pick up this book at some point. Great review Dar!
Thank you for offering this book contest. I would like to enter my name in the draw. Thanks!
pboylecharley(at)hotmail(dot)com
Ooo I was almost on this tour. This book sounds like I’d like it.
Thanks!
I’m a follower of your blog and I’m tweeting about it at vegasbookgirl
Cheers!
Amanda
libraryofmyown at gmail dot com
Please enter me in this great contest.
Thanks so much.
This sounds like an amazing book. I like books that provoke me to think, and challenge me. This sounds like just my kind of book! Happy to enter your contest.
Sounds like a book I would definitely enjoy. Thanks.
I follow with Google Friend Connect as Sandra K321.
This looks like an interesting book.
Sounds fascinating.
follow and email subscriber
tweet
https://twitter.com/#!/maynekitty/status/136885831838343168
Sounds like a great read! Please enter me in the drawing
I’m a follower.
Beth
bharbin07[at]gmail[dot]com
Sounds like a book with a strong female character. Thanks for the giveaway.
follow by GFC and email
I love the sound of this book
I follow via GFC as Jessy
I tweeted https://twitter.com/#!/hootowl1978/status/138074654685413377
[...] Wednesday, November 2nd: Peeking Between the Pages [...]
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