In 1856, New York midwife Carrie Ballentyne is seeking adventure. She accepts a nursing position with a Santa Fe doctor, and her younger brother, Nathan, decides to join her during the gruelling journey across the country to the New Mexico Territory. Originally, they were to travel by stagecoach, but a series of events means that they are to travel with others along the Santa Fe trail on horseback. Faster, but fraught with danger.
Carrie is a very modern character, feisty and capable, and unfazed by threats of Indian attack. Her family has intermarried with local Mohawks across the generations, and she believes her empathy will stand her in good stead.
Along the trail romance blossoms, as Carrie is drawn to fellow traveller Eli Ibarra, a Mestizo surveyor, and this relationship comes to dominate the story in a gentle and engaging manner. Once she arrives in Santa Fe, her midwifery position seems in jeopardy from the outset, noting that the doctor who has engaged her appears ill and distracted.
The Sweet Blue Distance book slots nicely in with Bonati’s earlier ‘Wilderness’ novels of the Bonner-Savard-Ballentyne clan, although it can be read as a standalone. Bonati is well regarded for her meticulous research, detailing the American West. She doesn’t shy away from the horrors of white colonialism, slavery and the annihilation of tribal life. Her characters are interesting and plentiful (thankfully there is a list of who’s who at the front of the book), however, there are times when Carrie seems a little too modern, in both her language and her attitudes, and for me, this does distract from my enjoyment of historical fiction. One for her many devoted fans.
Reviewed by Lesley West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rosina Lippi is a former academic and tenured university professor. Since 2000 she spends her time haunting the intersection where history and storytelling meet, wallowing in 19th century newspapers, magazines, street maps, and academic historical research. And she never gets bored with any of it.
Under the pen name Sara Donati she is the author of the Wilderness series, six historical novels that follow the fortunes of the Bonner family in the vast forests in upstate New York, from about 1792-1825.
Under her own name Rosina writes contemporary novels. She lives on Puget Sound with her husband, daughter, a Havanese pupper called Jimmy Dean, and Bella, a rambunctious cat. Sara lives with Rosina and her family, but refuses to answer the phone, do windows or make herself useful in any way at all.
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