Book Review: " A Sudden Country" by Karen Fisher

My crucial test of a good author is how well I can get 'lost' in a story. When I read a book, I want to be drawn into the story so I can focus on the story entirely, without my train of thought being interrupted by jarring sentences.

The story involves the dissatisfied wife of a man who insists they leave everything behind and take off for Oregon in the 1840s. Still, she recalls the romantic love she felt toward her first husband, now deceased, and obviously misses it. Meanwhile, a man who has lost his wife to another man, and all his children to smallpox, joins their circle and helps them make the trip. Lucy, the unhappy wife, has an immediate attraction for him, primarily because he's so unlike her husband.

I read the first few chapters and found myself continually stopping to review the previous paragraph to retrace my steps and understand what I had just read. I've read plenty of other spellbinding books by talented authors, and I had high hopes for this book.

However, I found this book to be more work than pleasure by chapter three. And my rule is, if I don't get into a book by at least 100 pages, forget. This book is heading back to the library on Saturday.