Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Bookworm9

"A Lantern in Her Hand" is the epic story of Abbie Deal, told from the time she is eight years old to her death as an old woman. After marrying her childhood sweetheart when he returns from the Civil War, Abbie puts her dreams of being an artist and singer on hold in order to follow Will to Nebraska to build a new life on the prairie. From motherhood to widowhood, bitter disappointments and small miracles, new houses and new grandchildren, Abbie never loses her love for beauty. When her old dreams are never realized, she is disappointed and yet forges on with a pioneer spirit that makes it apparent that there are things that equal individual dreams. Though old-fashioned, this is nevertheless a portrayal of a strong woman who is extraordinary in her very ordinariness.