Callie Whitaker is travelling in 1851, cooking for her
family as they trail a hundred head of cattle from
Tennessee to California. She's got two older step-sisters,
attractive girls who don't do any work, and her step-
mother
thinks of her as just a servant. This is why the story is
called WAGON TRAIN CINDERELLA.
I enjoyed the setup and kept finding comical moments as
Callie encounters a man bathing in the stream, or a
homesteader mother displays practical pantaloons under her
skirt. Callie's not strictly a step-child as she was
abandoned and taken in by the Whitakers, while step
implies
a remarriage. Probably people used whatever terms suited
them. Callie's Pa dislikes travelling in a wagon train,
which may carry disputes, people of various sorts and an
obligation to stay at the pace of the slowest. But the
safety in numbers, companionship and support outweighs
disadvantages for most.
Luke McGraw is escorting his
sister's family and acts as a guide. He's impressed by the
hard-working young woman and realises that Callie's family
treat her unfairly. Still, there's nothing anyone can do
and Callie knows her place. She didn't get sent to school,
like the others, and she constantly underestimates
herself.
She's twenty-two, but comes across as younger.
I liked the detail about life for women at this time. I
also liked that we are given some backstory about the
Whitakers to explain why the respectable farmer's wife has
the attitudes that she displays. Among other characters
is
a boy with a learning disability, who improves with the
new
stimuli on the trail. We also see how the supposedly God-
fearing pioneers don't always consider Native people to be
human. This allows them to justify taking over the tribal
lands. Callie has an instinctive understanding of the
wrongness of this attitude, which helps her to recognise
inappropriate attitudes she encounters. Beyond the
Missouri
River, the pioneers are not in the United States and are
responsible for enacting law. The tale is occasionally
tragic, as were the times.
We can all learn from the growth of Callie's character in
this fascinating, lively and well-constructed historical
romance. I enjoyed every word of WAGON TRAIN CINDERELLA
and
thanks to Shirley Kennedy I now know how to yoke an ox to
a
wagon. I'll definitely look out for more of this author's
work.
Love can lead you out of the wilderness…
1851, Overland Trail to California. As a baby, Callie was
left on the doorstep of an isolated farmhouse in
Tennessee. The Whitaker family took her in, but have
always considered her more a servant than a daughter.
Scorned by her two stepsisters, Callie is forced to work
long hours and denied an education. But a new world opens
to her when the Whitakers join a wagon train to California
—guided by rugged Luke McGraw…
A loner, haunted by a painful past, Luke plans to return
to the wilderness once his work is done. But he can’t help
noticing how poorly Callie is treated—or how unaware she
is of her beauty and intelligence. As the two become
closer over the long trek west, Callie’s confidence grows.
And when disaster strikes, Callie emerges as the strong
one—and the woman Luke may find the courage to love at
last…
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