Review: The pioneering priss...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 7, 2011
I literally read this book in less than 24hrs.  I downloaded yesterday afternoon and read it through.  I won this book via LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway.  Honestly, I couldn't remember requesting this book because it is from a genre I really try to stay away from, historical fiction.  Whiter Thou Goest, I Will Go, is one of those "hidden gem" type books.This story is set around 1886-1888 when not all of America was settled.  Jemima "Jem" Perkins is a pampered, aristocratic, southern belle who is a total daddy's girl. Jem happens to be the youngest of two sisters. Her oldest sister lives in Jem's shadow since she is not married.  Jem is happily married to Seth and they have a toddler named Charley.  Seth is in the Army and is away most of the time.  Jem's father, Colonel John Wilkinson, gives orders for his home as well as Seth and Jem's.  Seth had an idea to liberate his family from the clutches of John Wilkinson. He left the Army and they moved to the unsettled Great Plains to farm.  Jem did all she could to talk Seth out of this idea but he did not budge.  They were on their way.Jem could not boil water.  Jem's aristocratic lifestyle and servants had been forfeited for a farm and a sod house.  Initially, Jem was a whining priss that you just wanted to choke but the plains transformed her into a determined pioneer woman.  Charley grew on the farm and was captivated by all the new creatures he encountered.  Charley was Jem and Seth's glue when times were especially hard. The Perkins met several families while they were trying to make a life on the Plains. One of those families happened to be Russian, the Teskes.  This family was so sweet.  The obstacles were many but Jem and Seth were determined to make a life of their own.  Sickness and fever had to be waited out because most doctors were inexperienced and medicine was limited.  The winters on the Plains were especially harsh.  The people usually made it through but there was one particular blizzard that came so suddenly that when it passed everyone's life was changed.I don't know if this review is doing this book any justice but it was a great book.  It was quite suspenseful without any mystery.  Jem's transformation was gradual and Dathan wrote her character so vividly that I found myself cheering her on.