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The Seasons of Doubt: A Prairie Mother Alone
Nina Abrams, author
Abandonment, starvation, and uncertainty face Mary Harrington in the frigid Nebraska winter of 1875. Three months before, her husband disappeared, abandoning Mary and her young son in their bleak prairie house. Desperate and cold, without money or food, they flee the homestead with a hope, somehow, to find help. Written in the the rich days of Willa Cather, The Seasons of Doubt portrays the courage of a mother, in severe and paralyzing times, left to survive and to raise her child alone.
Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 7 out of 10
Prose: 8 out of 10
Character/Execution: 9 out of 10
Overall: 8.25 out of 10

Assessment:

Abrams' novel depicts the harshness of life in 1870s Nebraska, following young, quiet Mary Harrington and her malnourished son Ezekiel as they struggle to survive. Reliant on employment as a cook after her husband abandons her, Mary gains inner strength and certainty even as she nearly loses everything to starvation, fire, locusts, and more. Abrams' sere novel overcomes several continuity errors and other inconsistencies with its evocative portrayal of a woman pushed to her limits. Mary's death from tuberculosis, while realistic, makes for an abrupt, unsatisfying conclusion to what is otherwise an engrossing story.

 

Date Submitted: July 14, 2016

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