Customer Reviews

Flow On Sweet Missouri

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
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The Author brought to life real people who lived through a very important period in our nation's history. The Civil War played a major role in the lives of her ancestors and the author was able to express with realism how they were affected. A most interesting aspect of this tale shows how a town is split down the middle with one side supporting the Union Army and the other side the Confederates. The living conditions and family life during this period of our history is woven with color and flavor. Genealogy can be boring especially when it is not our own, however Carol Troestler makes the reader part of her family allowing the reader to experience their pain, their sorrow and their happiness.
Carol Troestler can be proud of her ancestors who made a significant contribution to this country.


Abe F. March
Author, To Beirut and Back

I followed this book as it was being written. My 10 seconds of fame come in the introduction. This story takes on the character of the writer, honest, compassionate, gentle, fun, passionate about writing and her family, past and present. It is an honor to be her friend. No foul language and therefore good for young people as well as those who appreciate clean language. I just ordered her second book, IOWA BORN AND BRED, from Amazon, and I think she is writing a third at this time.
Nancy Holum, Summerland Key, Florida

There was nothing even remotely uplifting about the Civil War, yet Carol Troestler's poignant and thoroughly researched novel about a Missouri family that experienced it firsthand gives a new focus.

We read about the Boothman family, based on her own ancestry, whose spirit and values go above and beyond the divisions within their chosen country, state, and town to achieve unity in family and nation through romance, marriage, birth and death.

Ms. Troestler describes eloquently the tensions produced in each member of the family by the warring factions of North and South, as the men or boys leave home to join one or the other side--the Union or the Confederate--and position for battle in the border state of Missouri.

As schools and churches close for the duration, Elizabeth "home schools" the children with a "play" to teach a history lesson about the lives of Lewis and Clark's expedition down the Missouri River to find a route to the Pacific. As a former teacher who often used this method, this reader found it delightful.

In another joyful moment that made her heart pound, Elizabeth dances the jig--an Irish dance she knew from her youth in Ireland--that also brought back memories of a time when I was part of an Irish Dancing Group.

Not allowing anything to totally destroy their family, not even suffering and death, moving to different states or far distances, Elizabeth Boothman's strong character gives the history an authenticity as she employs spiritual values and qualities of life that redeem an otherwise dreary and depressing moment in the history of America's struggle to become a united nation.

The question we cannot help but ask ourselves is "was the country already in the throes of a peaceful resolution of the evils of slavery, or was this a necessary war with all the suffering and loss of life it produced?"

Bringing the question to a different level--one that is very much in the minds of Americans today who face similar divisions and a war many do not support in a country not their own--Ms. Troestler describes with compassion the sorrow and emotional confusion of those Missouri soldiers who faced an "enemy" and found it was "themselves."

This is a novel that would be an important piece of literature in high schools and colleges to teach history because it is written with knowledge of the issues involved, not just facts, and with a human touch. Five brilliant stars.

Joyce Ann Edmondson
The Listening Tree

I just completed reading what I think had to be a very difficult book to write. The author provides a detailed history of her family; history requiring hours of research. Even with the many "in depth" details covering 264 pages, I found myself reading each page with ease and understanding.
Beginning in 1858 when the family of ten crossed the ocean seeking a new life in America, this pioneer family spans nearly 150 years of loving life yet the sorrow of too much death; death from the war, devastating fires and early childhood diseases.
Elizabeth was the early matriarch of the family being a strong-willed woman with great courage who would stand up to the strife of war, the jayhawkers, the vigilantes and of course the bushwhackers - each on different sides of the conflict but invading the area of Missouri where this family had settled. Even the town where they lived was divided in philosophy.
"Minnie" was the first baby born on American soil during the early part of the Civil War. When her mother was forced from their home by bushwhackers, Minnie made her appearance to the family on the banks of a coal mine. As she grew, became a mother, grandmother and great grandmother, she was to become the future matriarch. During her long, difficult life she came to realize the true meaning of freedom - the freedom they sought in this, the new land.
Minnie's final request during her last days was that her granddaughter, Alice release her own daughter from the controlling ways the mothers in the family had always demanded. Her final gift to her great granddaughter (Carol Troestler) was that she have the freedoms to live, play and love - those same freedoms the women of her family were denied. And, oh yes, the freedom to write - write a wonderful book about the Farrar Boothman family titled Flow On Sweet Missouri. It is a great read - Carol took a difficult accumulation of facts and molded them into words that flow like the mighty Missouri River itself. If you enjoy history, you will especially enjoy reading this wonderfully written book. I did.

A review of Flow On Sweet Missouri by Herman Yenwo

Flow On Sweet Missouri is a great fictional work skillfully interwoven into American historical facts. It takes the reader from the American civil war in the mid 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.
I enjoyed Carol Troestler's chronological narrative style. When you start reading Flow On Sweet Missouri, you better be prepared because you will not feel like stopping until you have finished reading the entire story.
Easy to follow and might I add, very educational.

Herman Yenwo

This book is a rich and rewarding, personal look back through a century of historic events from the detailed and caring perspective of an author who can educate and inform as well as weave fascinating characters into a well-paced journey with thought provoking and relatable storylines.

Author Troestler has woven romance, adventure, and human insight into a tapestry of family history and American history in a way that kept me glued to the pages. All families should be so honored.

As I read Carol Troestler's Flow On Sweet Missouri, I was impressed with her dedication to the story of her family, the mind boggling amount of research that she had to do, and the gentleness of her spirit.

When I was in high school, the class I most dreaded was American History. At that time American History was remembering dates and names that did not seem to connect to my life. It is too bad that we did not have Carol Troestler's book, Flow On Sweet Missouri, for reading at that time. Through her families struggles, you see both sides of the Civil War. It makes it real. It is not just dates and battles, but people surviving and dying on both sides.

Carol has written a magnificent book that should be in schools. Her documentation is wonderful. The songs and hymns of the time are accurate. Her research is without fault.

Many people have written books about their own family history. The difference with Carol Troestler's book is that you know where they were, what they thought, how they lived, their trials and their joys and how they all fitted within the politics of the times. It is a beautiful book!