Jenny Sanders Pryor is 19 and a new bride when she and her husband embark on a journey along the treacherous Oregon Trail by way of wagon train in 1865. When they are attacked by the Oglala Sioux, Jenny is brought to the Black Hills of South Dakota and made the reluctant wife of Chief Ottawa. She is forced to succumb to the ways of her captors, but not for long. For while her husband struggles to rescue her, Jenny manages her own daring escape.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In 1865, a band of Oglala Sioux attack a wagon train near Fort Laramie. After killing 14 people, they kidnap Jenny Pryor, her stepdaughter, and two others. Only Jenny survives to the Black Hills, where she is forced to become the seventh wife of Chief Ottawa. Meanwhile, her frantic husband desperately tries to enlist the aid of soldiers to rescue her. To Jenny, the Oglala are filthy, blood-thirsty, and superstitious; the only sympathetic Indian is a Jesuit-raised Christian. He helps Jenny survive her ordeal, including her dispatch to another tribe and "husband." He also assists on the eventual reunion with her legal husband. Riefe's (Against All Odds, LJ 12/96) narrative is disjointed and episodic, but her depiction of Indians as treacherous savages is pretty consistent. As if to provide balance, she includes a brief afterword that explains that ill-treatment and sexual abuse of captives actually were quite rare. That wouldn't have provided as sensational a plot, however. Not recommended.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
This 1865 tale of a young woman captured by warriors of the Oglala tribe in the Northwest re-creates the hatred seething among Indians, Army troops, and settlers--but with characters who sometimes fail to convince. In previous novels in Riefe's Iroquois series (Mohawk Woman, 1996, etc.), the author persuasively evoked torturous 18th-century tensions between whites and Native Americans. Here, Cincinnatian John Pryor, his young wife Jenny, and their seven-year-old adopted daughter Mary join a wagon train headed for Oregon. Near Fort Laramie, the party is attacked by Oglalas. Many of the settlers are killed, while Jenny, Mary, another woman, and a child are captured. Jenny plans an escape for the other three, who get away, but warriors return with their scalps. Jenny herself becomes one of the wives of the ancient chief, Ottawa. Meanwhile, John begins his frantic, furious search. The Army can't help; there are only 15,000 troops, and 300,000 Indian warriors are spread over a vast territory. John is sent for information to an ill-paid, but honest Indian agent, heavy-drinking Lincoln Hammer, who knows the score: ``The Indians know they're gradually losing everything . . . they know the sun's going down for them . . . every wagon they burn, every scalp they take delays extinction by a few minutes.'' At the same time, Jenny is living through her own ordeal, even keeping her junior high school guidance-teacherlike attitude intact (``Is being nice to him so hard?''). Before a ``happy'' ending built on tragedy, there are some fantastic treks and the slaughter of an entire fort's company. Jenny also deals not only with tomahawks and murder, but with a madman and his wagonload of corpses. Despite the limp characterizations, a rugged tale of survival with some haunting reminders of dark episodes in American history. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful character ... great story!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Desperate Crossing: The Jenny Sanders Pryor Story (Hardcover)
A wonderful story that will stay with you for a long time. I found myself searching the web to see if Jenny Sanders Pryor was a real person - she certainly seemed so to me after reading the book. Very enjoyable!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just like the author's AGAINST ALL ODDS: GREAT!,
This review is from: Desperate Crossing: The Jenny Sanders Pryor Story (Hardcover)
Desperate Crossing, just like Riefe's Against All Odds, was an exciting story of a young pioneer woman on the journey west. Jenny Pryor is just nineteen and recently married when she and her young adopted daughter are captured by the Sioux in a raid on their wagon train. Now Jenny must plan a daring escape.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time,
By
This review is from: Desperate Crossing: The Jenny Sanders Pryor Story (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a sad attempt at a western novel. It was not worth the time to read it, please do not waste your time on it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
