Review: Good People, Good Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
When I first ran across this book, I had serious doubts about it.  Mail order brides?  Really?Well, yeah; really.  It turns out that mail order brides were indeed a part of US history back in the 1800's.  Since I am an amateur historian - or whatever ranks below "amateur" - I was drawn into the book despite my initial wariness.  I'm glad I was.This is the story of Sarah Hutchison and Clint Thomas, widow and widower, who lost their spouses as a result of the Civil War.  The novel tells of their struggles to carry on after such tragedy, and their eventual joining through The Matrimonial News of Kansas City, Missouri.  (This newspaper actually existed, and its use and particulars are accurately described in this book.)The characters are best aspect of this novel.  They are truly good people who deserve happiness.  I'm an old fashioned type of guy, so I'm glad to see that these folks hold true to their vows: they revel in the good times, and help each other through the bad.As a warning, this is a romantic novel, and so there are some somewhat explicit love scenes.  I generally like to leave such goings on a bit more to the imagination, but here it certainly doesn't detract anything from the story.  This is a thoroughly enjoyable novel.The author, Susan Leigh Carlton, has based this book on her great-great-great -grandmother, although I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the details may differ.  :-)