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Book Cover for: The Diary of Mattie Spenser, Sandra Dallas

The Diary of Mattie Spenser

Sandra Dallas

Nobody was more surprised than Mattie herself when Luke Spenser, considered the great catch of their small Iowa town, asked her to marry him. Less than a month later, they are wed and setting off in a covered wagon to build a home on the Colorado frontier. Mattie's only company, aside from a taciturn and slightly mysterious new husband, is her private journal, where she records the joys and frustrations not just of frontier life, but also of marriage to a handsome but distant stranger. As Mattie and Luke make a life together on the harsh and beautiful prairie, battling the fierce odds imposed by weather, illness, and lawlessness, Mattie learns some bitter truths about her husband and the woman he left behind, and finds love where she least expects it.

Book Details

  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
  • Publish Date: May 15th, 1998
  • Pages: 240
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.16in - 6.20in - 0.62in - 0.49lb
  • EAN: 9780312187101
  • Categories: Historical - GeneralWesterns - GeneralCultural Heritage

About the Author

Dallas, Sandra: - SANDRA DALLAS, dubbed "a quintessential American voice" by Jane Smiley in Vogue Magazine, is the author of over a dozen novels, including Little Souls and Where Coyotes Howl, many translated into a dozen languages and optioned for films. Six-time winner of the Willa Award and four-time winner of the Spur Award, Dallas was a Business Week reporter for 35 years, and began writing fiction in 1990. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado.

Praise for this book

"A wonderfully vivit portrait of frontier life...Mattie is a marvelous creation...It's a story that's genuinely moving and impossible to put down." --Rocky Mountain News

"One of the bright new voices in historical fiction...Dallas's authentic period details, her colorful minor characters, and most of all Mattie herself lend charm and emotnional truth to this appealing marital and pioneering adventure." --Publishers Weekly