Wanderer Eastward, Wanderer West [Import] [Hardcover]

Winsor Kathleen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1965

1965 RANDOM BOOK CLUB EDITION

Product Details

• Hardcover: 947 pages
• Publisher: Random House 1965; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0432193502
• ISBN-13: 978-0432193501
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,426,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, February 4, 2003

By 

Cassidhe (Harper Woods, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wanderers eastward, wanderers west

Wow! This was such a great book. It may be hard to find, but it is definitely worth it. I bought it after reading FOREVER AMBER also by Kathleen Winsor.

This book is very in depth about the human psyche. It follows the lives of several people for about 20 years. It takes place during the second half of the 19th century in Montana and New York City. I learned so much about this time period as well as what life was like "out west." She has great historical details. It is a bit slow at times, but you still can't put it down. This is not a book that ends happily ever after, or that ties everything up in the end. It is as real as real life. The characters are multi-faceted with multitudes of various feelings. I just cannot describe how good this book is. It's been about a year since I read it and I still think about it often. Excellent!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MAKES WANDERING A MEMORABLE TRIP, May 21, 2006

By 

Red Rock Bookworm (St. George Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West (Paperback)

If you are a fan of great, imaginative and well researched writing this book is for you. The novel is set in two different locales..New York City and Montana. It cleverly recounts the events in the lives of various individuals who inhabit these two areas. Ms. Winsor gives us fully "fleshed out" characters with distinctive qualities and personal traits that intrigue us. You find yourself wanting to know more and more about what's happening to each of them. The authors way of advancing the storyline and leaving reader with little "cliff hangers" at the end of selected chapters, keeps you reading until your eyes literally burn from lack of sleep. This is a book you cannot put down.....and you don't want to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "And so, rather than make apologies for the devastation they had accomplished so far they deprecated it", May 16, 2009

By 

Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

And you're not going to know what that quote means until the very end of this door-stopper sized book! This one starts in 1861 and tells the parallel tales of Matt Devlin as he begins to carve a new life in Montana, along with that of his brother-in-law Joshua Ching in New York as he winds his way to great fortune through the manipulation and financial downfall of others. Matt, his brother Pete and their partners and eventually his sons are involved in the early days of mining the Montana Rockies, first gold then silver and finally digging to the depths of the inner mountains for the remaining treasure - copper. The early boom towns grow and die, although one town long thought dead begins to grow and change as does the landscape surrounding it - Butte.

On the other side of the country, Jason's wealth grows and he becomes one of New York's elite rich and marries his daughter Susan (Suky) into one of the "old" families short of cash. The story carries them through the financial disasters and depressions of the time, as well as intertwining with Matt's children with his. That's about as far as I care to go, beyond that I'd be writing a full length book report and you know I don't do that. Suffice it to say, this book is packed with plenty of extramarital affairs (but no bodice ripping, I promise), sneaky stock dealings, railroad barons, roaring mining towns, scandalous actresses and mistresses, the cigar smoking cussing Lily in her men's clothes all intertwined with Morgan Devlin as he reaches for the huge wealth buried in the mountain he must destroy to reach the copper inside it.

Although I wouldn't call this one an action packed, can't put it down until you know what happens next type of book, it was still entertaining for those like a big fat (and I do mean fat) book packed with plenty of history and intrigue and colorful characters. Just be warned, there are a lot of characters and the story switches back and forth quite a bit between Montana and New York so if you don't like a switching POV or if you're looking for a book with star-crossed lovers, a pure and saintly hero and heroine who get their HEA in the end, this isn't the book for you. For those of you who read and loved her more famous book, Forever Amber you might want to give this one a whirl. 4/5 stars.