Nothing Daunted

Author: Dorothy Wickenden
Genre: Historical Biography
Publisher: Scribner, 2011
Pages: 304
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, bored by society luncheons, charity work, and the effete men who courted them, left their families in Auburn, New York, to teach school in the wilds of northwestern Colorado. They lived with a family of homesteaders in the Elkhead Mountains and rode to school on horseback, often in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The young cattle rancher who had lured them west, Ferry Carpenter, had promised them the adventure of a lifetime. He hadn’t let on that they would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals.

Nearly a hundred years later, Dorothy Wickenden, the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff, found the teachers’ buoyant letters home, which captured the voices of the pioneer women, the children, and other unforgettable people the women got to know. In reconstructing their journey, Wickenden has created an exhilarating saga about two intrepid women and the “settling up” of the West.

Review: This book is the culmination of extensive research. What a reward.

Our lives are really just a snapshot in time. The women in this book come alive and left me longing in for a simpler time. They also grabbed life by the horns and experienced adventures most people only read about.