An Ordinary Woman: A Dramatized Biography of Nancy Kelsey [Hardcover]

Cecelia Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999

With her stunningly realistic and exhaustively researched novels, Cecelia Holland has earned unanimous acclaim as one of the finest historical novelists of our time. Her subjects range from the dawn of prehistory and the turbulent middle ages to the rough-and-tumble pioneer days of her own native California, chronicled in such sweeping epics as The Bear Flag, Pacific Street, and her most recent novel, Railroad Schemes. Now, in An Ordinary Woman, Holland gives us an intimate portrait of a remarkable woman who played a crucial role in the settlement of the West--Nancy Kelsey, the courageous young pioneer who was the first American woman to set foot in California. Drawing upon Nancy's own accounts of her harrowing journey, as well as the writings of those who traveled with her, Cecelia Holland has crafted a stunning biography of this amazing woman that is filled with all of the action, passion, danger, and determination that have made her historical novels bestsellers around the world. Married at the age of fifteen to Ben Kelsey, a restless young Scotch-Irish pioneer who eked out a meager living on the Missouri frontier, Nancy Roberts Kelsey was a strong and capable woman who could milk a cow, skin a deer, make hew own clothes, plant a field, drive a team of oxen, and shoot a rifle. The child pioneers, bred to courage and risk, she had grown up in the wilderness only a few miles from the great Missouri River that was, in 1838, the border of the settled United States. But when the lure of a new life on the farthest edge of the frontier beckoned to Ben Kelsey, Nancy was determined to be at his side. Together they embarked on an arduous odyssey across thousands of miles of uncharted wilderness, crossing the Great Plains, the Rockies, and the High Sierra to reach their promised land. Braving hunger, disaster, illness, betrayal, and death, Nancy Kelsey and her family would play a crucial role in American history, becoming the first wave of a great tide that would transform a nation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frontier adventure and the romance of roughing it are kept in check by the strong historical basis of Holland's fictionalized biography of Nancy Kelsey, the first American woman to reach California. Traveling by horse and on foot, 17-year-old Nancy leaves Missouri with a baby on her hip in search of California's holy grail. Part of the 1841 Bidwell-Bartleson party, Nancy and her husband, Ben, decide against the meandering Santa Fe Trail in order to take a more direct?and uncharted?course directly across the continent: traversing the Great Plains, the Rockies, the desert and the Sierra Nevadas. Disastrous weather, hostile Indians, rough terrain and the constant threat of starvation test Nancy's resourcefulness and steadfast will. The party's eventual arrival in California heralds the end of the era of Mexican occupation and the beginning of U.S. proprietary interests in the area.The Mexican-Californian landholding nobles are increasingly threatened by the influx of American settlers, especially when the Gold Rush commences. Skirmishes evolve into a rebellion and the settlers rally under the original Bear Flag made from Nancy's petticoats, wresting power individually from each Mexican settlement and conquering California in July 1847 with the capture of Monterey. Prolific historical novelist Holland (The Bear Flag) uses Nancy's own letters as well as archival material to recreate the life of a pioneer woman who was a legend in her own time (she died in 1896). The thorough research lends authority to a vivid and engaging narrative that suffers only a little from Holland's evident fervent admiration for her heroine.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Holland returns to California (Railroad Schemes, 1997, etc.) for her 24th historical, a dramatized biography of Nancy Kelsey, the first American woman to cross the wilderness of the Great Western Desert and Rockies, afterward settling in California with her husband Ben and raising a large family. Accompanied entirely by men and carrying an infant in her arms, Kelsey trekked over the Sierra Nevada, facing down hostile Indians (her seven-year-old daughter was scalped and killed) and surviving the brutalities of land and weather. When Kelsey arrived in California, the Spanish dons realized that a virtual takeover by easterners was a foregone conclusion. Kelseys husband, in none-too-good health, was often laid low, but at last he sprang back to work. Kelsey herself hefted pounds of gold at Sutter's Fort on the American River, and when California seceded from Mexico, she rode in the Bear Flag Rebellion. This was clearly a woman of awesome endurance; when her husband died, after giving his name to many California trails, hamlets, and canyons, she went north to the wilderness area of the San Joaquin Valley, built a new homestead, and lived to old age. Holland, basing her story on journals of the period, writes in her usual non-nonsense, straight-ahead style that is more intent on covering the distance than on smelling the wind (or the flowers). -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312865287
• ISBN-13: 978-0312865283
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She is not an ordinary woman, March 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Ordinary Woman: A Dramatized Biography of Nancy Kelsey (Hardcover)

In 1841 Ben Kelsey, his teenage wife Nancy, and their infant leave Missouri for California. Instead of heading southwest down the Santa Fe trail, the Kelsey trio takes the shortest route, a straight line through the Plains, the Rockies, the Great Western Desert, and the Sierra Nevada range. This path happens to be the most dangerous between the threat of Indians and hostile climate.

However, Nancy's arrival frightens the Spanish Dons who control much of California. They realize a woman with a baby crossed the desert and mountainous barrier that previosuly isolated them from the Americans and their Manifest Destiny propaganda. Over the next few years more Americans arrive until a rebellion breaks out with the Anglo newcomers rallying around the Bear Flag (made from Nancy's petticoats). California is about to start a new destiny led by intrepid settlers like Nancy.

AN ORDINARY WOMAN is an extraordinary historical fictionalized biography that is must reading by fans of the sub-genre. Internationally renowned for her historical novels, Cecilia Holland scribes what will be acknowledged as one of her best works in what is clearly an incredible career. Using real accounts including the heroine's own letters, Ms. Holland paints a picture of an era in flux. Though the obvious worship of the real Nancy by the author becomes a bit overbearing, all the characters seem genuine as their motives and lifestyles bring depth to the tale. This fabulous recounting of a period in American History will provide much acclaim to Ms. Holland.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, March 29, 2008

By 

L.A. in CA - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Ordinary Woman: A Dramatized Biography of Nancy Kelsey (Paperback)

The first two-thirds of this book tells of the overland journey of a young woman, Nancy Kelsey, and a group of pioneers who leave Missouri heading for California. Their journey is exciting and full of danger and hardship. It is the story of a specific group of people, and their story is unique in many ways. But, in other ways, it is a familiar story that we have come to know from books and movies over the years. What I found most interesting about this book, is the final one-third of the story. After arriving in California, rather than finding themselves in a land of paradise, Nancy and her family instead find themselves caught up in an extremely turbulent time in California history. Anyone familiar with California history will recognize the names of the extraordinary men this "ordinary woman" comes across: Vallejo, Barryessa, Sutter, Fremont and Bidwell, to name a few. Many of these men come across as a little less stellar than what is written about them in the school books. And the violent actions of Nancy's husband, his brother and several of the other settlers were disturbing to read about. A very interesting, very informative, and very well-written story.

5.0 out of 5 stars History in Northern California, May 21, 2010

By 

G. Chaid "Raven Reader" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Ordinary Woman: A Dramatized Biography of Nancy Kelsey (Paperback)

This book is about my great grandmother
so it is endearing to me. Family history
published in a real book.
Nothing like it.