One More River To Cross

~Synopsis~

In 1844, two years before the Donner Party, the Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land and enjoyed a safe journey--until October, when a heavy snowstorm forced difficult decisions. The first of many for young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, the widow Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa.

When the party separates in three directions, each risks losing those they loved and faces the prospect of learning that adversity can destroy or redefine. Two women and four men go overland around Lake Tahoe, three men stay to guard the heaviest wagons--and the rest of the party, including eight women and seventeen children, huddle in a makeshift cabin at the headwaters of the Yuba River waiting for rescue . . . or their deaths.

~Review~

I have read many of Jane Kirkpatrick's past books and have always loved the historical detail and how much I learn each time I read something of hers. This book did not disappoint on the historical aspect or writting style, but it did disappoint with how confusing it was! The amount of characters the author chose to follow made it hard for me to genuinely care about any of them. Their is a list of characters at the beginning of the book, but I'm not a fan of having to flip back every couple of paragraphs to jump start my memory of who someone is. 

I had such high hope's for this book and like I said, Kirkpatrick's writing style was perfect and so was her attention to history, but where the book went wrong was the amount of characters it followed. That is truly the only downfall to this book, but it is such a big one that it makes it hard for me to recommend this book to anyone else.

*I received this book for free as part of the Baker Publishing Group Blogger Review Program, but my opinions are all my own.