Customer Reviews

Fearless: A Novel of Sarah Bowman

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you think your life is hard, just wait till you read this book by Lucia St. Clair Robson ~~ it is so vividly written that I can't believe I didn't rush to the store to buy it after finishing Ride the Wind!!

Sarah Bowman is not your typical heroine nor is she your stereotypical woman. She is fearless ~~ takes no mess from any man nor woman. She rides with the army boys deep into Mexico to fight in the Mexican war. After her husband was killed, she stayed with the army knowing no other life. She started out as a laundress as she had done in the Florida Seminole wars. However, as a favor to an old friend, she started to be the officers' cook and laundress ~~ and was well rewarded with her efforts.

Through lovers, death and victory, Sarah remains with her intergrity as a human being intact. She defends the helpless every chance she can get. She has a bawdy sense of humor ~~ the officers' wives can't help but look at her with disdain. She shows a gentle side of her when needed ~~ she is a remarkable woman in every sense of the word!!

This is a brillantly written book. You won't be disappointed there with Robeson's writing. She writes so vividly that you think you better get a drink of water before the scorching Texas sun kills you. She also writes of a different Texas than the one that the Comanches ruled. It is just a fine story ~~ and it's a quick read. You can't help but be drawn into the story. And you can't help but admire Sarah and wish she was still around. But Texas and Mexico has claimed her as theirs.

I average reading about 30 history or biographies a year and about the same number of historical novels. I am a reasonably serious student in the field. I also write a good deal in my profession, so I also pay attention to the quality of an author's writing. I cannot recall when I have been so thoroughly impressed with all aspects (historical research, really interesting person/subject, and pure beauty in the writing itself) of an author's work.

This is a great historical novel. The author not only tells the story of her subject, Sarah Bowman, she also tells about the mountainous problems overcome by Zachary Taylor's army in the war against Mexico (1848). At this time it was still common for some women to follow an army and serve as cooks, washer women, wives, or prostitutes. Sarah Bowman liked soldiers and was happy to cook, wash, and at times marry-up with them, but she was entirely her own woman and woe to the man who misunderstood that! For instance, she stands down a group of Mexican bandits with the warning that "The Irish say there are three things no man can rule: a mule, a pig, and a woman." The bandits wisely understand, and so will any reader lucky enough to pick up this book.

By the way, it is a book about a strong woman, and certainly a book any woman will enjoy, but it is most definitely not a "woman's book" in the sense of a book a man would not enjoy. The only caveat I would give for this book is that the women in it do at times sleep with men. That is not done in the sort of specific detail which seems to be required for publication these days, but I would not want a daughter to read it until she is mature enough to at least know that adults do not always restrict their sexual conduct to marriage. The book is actually pretty reserved in its descriptions of sexual conduct, much more than most mass market novels today. I just mention this in case someone thinks a book about a strong woman would be good reading for a young lady. It is, just know that there is some discussion of sex in it.

If you like honest stories about interesting people, do yourself a great favor and read this novel. Once you do you will find yourself ordering Robson's other books.

One final tip: be sure and read her dedication of this book. That alone will tell you why you want, need, to read something written by her.

Having been held utterly spellbound by the luscious and fascinating detail in WALKS IN MY SOUL, RIDE THE WIND, LIGHT A DISTANT FIRE, and TOKAIDO ROAD, I expected more of the same from FEARLESS. Much to my disappointment, FEARLESS lacked the depth, strength, and rich emotion of the earlier books. While Ms. Robson's heroines are always somewhat bigger than life, in FEARLESS, Sarah Bowman, "The Great Western," came across as a less than believable caricature. FEARLESS is a mildly entertaining adventure story. Readers in search of such material will not be disappointed. Lucia St. Clair Robson fans seeking a novel of the caliber of her early works would be advised to steer clear of this one.

Lucia St Clair Robson portrays the lives of strong, frontier woman in well researched historical settings. Once again, she has plucked another figure from our American west whose life is often overlooked but whose story is fascinating.Sarah Bowman followed the troops through Texas and Mexico during the Mexican-American War with a wide variety of characters floating in and out of her life combined with the well written day to day routines of military life was great reading. Her story may be familiar to Texans but it was new to this 'northerner'. The descriptions of the countryside, the weather and the hardships of living and traveling through south Texas and northern Mexico were so vivid, it left you dry and thirsty and glad for the comforts of modern travel. I only wish the author had not stopped the story so soon, Sarah Bowman lived another 15 or so years and I would have enoyed following her adventures.Camp followers are usuallygiven only sparse words of coverage in our history books...and never given much credit for the critical support they provided for our troops.Read the story of Sarah Bowman and you will gain a new appreciation this overlooked group and meet a wonderful character from our past.

Lucia St. Clair Robson has done an excellent job in composing a novel based on the real life of Sarah Bowman. I found myself hurrying through the day's activities so I could finally get back to the book and Sarah's life. It was such a delightful story, I was sorry when it ended. Sarah Bowman was a beautiful woman who was larger than most men using her size and strength to protect herself and those around her. She had a spectacular gift of independence and courage combined with sensitivity and compassion that saw her through many obstacles and hardships. She was an inspiration to those around her and an inspiration to those of us who are reading about her 150 years later.

It's obvious that Ms. Robson has researched her material thoroughly. She describes life during the Mexican War in such a way that you can almost hear the gunshots and feel the excitement.

Usually, I skip over anything having to do with the American West; as a genre of writing, it's just not that exciting to me. Perhaps it's having lived most of my life in the American Southwest, and just glad to be back on the right side of the Hudson again, I don't know. But there was a recent discovery that caused me to pick up this book, and give it a read; most of this was due to my friend Ankh who suggested it.

Most stories of warfare are told from a soldier or general's point of view and tend to be vainglorious tales of battles that drip with testosterone. That's not exactly my type of reading. But this time, Fearless take a look at war from a very different point of view -- from that of a woman.

When the book opens, Sarah Borginnis is travelling to the edges of Texas to join her husband, a soldier in the army. Troops are gathering to fight along the Rio Grande, and secure a balance from the invading Mexican army of Santa Anna. But when she arrives at a place that will be known as Corpus Christi, she discovers that she has arrived before him. But tragedy occurs just as she is getting settled in and waiting for her beloved -- and fate is cruel enough to not even let her have a body to mourn over.

Not that will stop Sarah in her tracks. She's a tough woman, having followed her husband through the wars in the swamps in Florida and more than holding her own against anything. She's a tall, brazen, and valiant woman, willing to do whatever it takes to protect herself and those that she cares for. Now she's joined General Taylor's army as a laundress, and cook, and gathering a variety of people to help her -- Cruz, a Mexican woman that has befriended her, and fled an abusive husband, and Nancy, a little girl that is more of an adult than most of the people around her. There are others too, from the snooty officer's wives, other camp followers, the enlisted men, and officers, and finally the people of southern Texas and Mexico that are caught between the two armies.

I was entranced from the moment I started this one, and finally laid it down with a sigh. Lucia St. Clair Robson's book is a great, bawdy adventure of a novel, told through the eyes of Sarah as she loves, fights, and copes with a very uncertain future. Above all, Sarah is a realist, free of any romantic notions, and is acutely aware of what life really is about. Besides the war itself, there is another subplot to the story that is just as compelling.

The story of Cruz, and the American soldier that she falls for, James Murphy, must have been repeated many times over, and it's just as exciting as the one that Sarah has. Where Sarah is bigger than life, Cruz is quiet, devoted -- but also has a wild streak as well as the best monte player, happily relieving soldiers of their pay.

Free of the usual romantic clap-trap, Robson's able to take this story and make it shine. For the most amazing thing about the story of Sarah Bowman is that she actually lived. While Robson doesn't tell all of Sarah's story, there is a small afterword that fills in some of the details, and a bit of what happened after. It's certainly enough to make me want to disover more about Sarah Bowman and her life in the future.

For anyone wanting a very different look at the American West, this one is worth it. It's more of a historical novel than a romance, and is happily free of the cliches and stereotypes that can be found in most novels set in the American West. I found it to be a compelling page turner, and sat up far too late into the night to find out what happned next. Robson's writing is clear and well-paced, and she's an author who knows how to make a story exciting and at times, harrowing. Some of the imagry in this book is rather strong, so I wouldn't suggest it for the young adult crowd.

If you want a story full of colourful characters, smart people, and jammed full of adventure, you can't go wrong with this one. Another book that I've read by Robson is Ride the Wind, about Cynthia Ann Parker, another woman of the old West with an amazing story to tell.

Recommended.

After reading Walk In My Soul and Ride the Wind, this book was disappointing. I finished the book just because I started it and hoped it would kick into gear at some point. This book, with no flair, no characters I loved and a short-cut ending, leaves me not wanting to read her other books. Too bad, I was enjoying the ride.

Lucia St. Clair Robson is an incredible storyteller who picks you up out of your comfortable chair and deposits you right smack dab into the middle of the action. You can almost feel the heat from the cannon, smell the gunpowder, and hear the wails of the wounded and dying... and if you can't, you just weren't paying attention. Ms. Robson's attention to detail is amazing. I scanned some of the reviews of this book and was curious to see someone describe this as a "quick read." I beg to differ. I had to stop reading after every 3 or 4 chapters just to rest up because I felt like I was fighting the war with them! Someone else described it as "disappointing." I don't know what they were expecting, but as a member of an Indian Wars-era living history group I was fascinated by the details of everyday life for the soldiers and civilians. When you read this book don't put it down until you've read the "author's notes" at the end, they bring everything together and leave you with a smile. Great story!

This was the first book I ever ready by this author, and I've been hooked ever since. Her detail with regard to the life and times are so intricate and realistic that you can "see the movie playing" in your head. If you love historical fiction, you'll love reading any of her books.

Having read other books by Lucia St. Clair Robson, I looked forward to reading this account of Sarah Bowman, a real woman who followed the U.S. Army during and after the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. I anticipated wonderful settings brought to life in much the same manner as Robson did in Ride the Wind, and characters that crawled into my soul like Mary and Margaret in Mary's Land. Unfortunately, this particular historical novel failed to live up to my expectations and ultimately was a bit of a drudge to finish.

The story of Sarah Bowman seems as though it would be a good one because all the elements are there: the Old West, bad guys, good guys who make bad decisions, and a larger than life independent woman who brushes lives with some of the colorful characters of the time. The story opens in a promising manner, with Sarah suddenly widowed yet still eager to follow the U.S. Army as a laundress/cook because it's the only life she's known. Sarah's not afraid of much of anything, and she tends to mother everyone she comes in contact with. We follow her into battle (at one point she actually fired a cannon) and we see her expand her business into a sort of traveling rooming house that makes her wealthy. The people she comes to know are all vividly written and believable, and yet, and yet...it's just not that interesting. The scenes where Sarah is moving with the Army are particularly long and drawn out, and once she's stood up to two or three people, well, that's enough. We are constantly reminded of Sarah's size as well; she's a tall woman who draws eyes to her, but yet she handles herself with grace and wit. While this is all well-written, it's just a bit of a drudge after a while. Once we get past the War with Mexico, there should have been a natural end to the tale, but because Sarah spends the entire book being called Sarah Borginnis (her first husband's name), Robson pulls the story out to a couple of years beyond the close so that she can have Sarah, on the very last page, meet Albert Bowman and thus give an explanation to the title of her book.

There were parts of this novel I enjoyed greatly, and I found the story of Cruz and James to be poignant and sad. It's eye opening to realize that there really were women like Sarah in the Old West, and the "character" of Jake the mule was particularly amusing. But overall I was glad to close this book and I hope that the other Robson novels waiting patiently in my home to be read are more enjoyable than this one.