The Diary of Mattie Spenser (Paperback)

~ (Author) "My name is Mattie Faye McCauley Spencer..." (more)
Key Phrases: lady homesteaders, prairie home, dried apple pies, Emmie Lou, Fort Madison, Colorado Territory (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

With the convention of finding a diary in an elderly neighbor's attic trunk framing her story, Dallas creates a ripping good read from this fictional journal. Beginning in 1865, a week after her wedding in Fort Madison, Iowa, Mattie Spenser confides to her diary as she and her new husband travel by Conestoga wagon to the Colorado Territories. The building of a sod house; the births and deaths of children; the melting of narrow attitudes toward "loose" women, Indians, and Negroes; and the growth of Mattie as a person are all visible in these pages, full of what seems like genuine details of prairie life. There's enough about her complicated relationship with her husband to satisfy readers longing for romance and resolution. If some of the hooks in the tale, which include wife beating, incest, miscegenation, and adultery, are a bit contrived, the pace is lively and engaging. GraceAnne DeCandido --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The buoyancy and simple, uncloying sweetness of spirit of Dallas's appealing protagonist--the young wife of a homesteader in Colorado Territory--give a bright, fresh shading to the tragedies and small sharp joys of 19th-century frontier life. Again, as in The Persian Pickle Club (1995), Dallas has caught the lilt and drift of regional speech. At 22, plain Mattie is astounded that handsome Luke Spenser desires to marry her--he has been keeping company with pretty Persia. Nonetheless, he chooses her, and they head out from Iowa in May 1865 to the homestead Luke has already planted in Colorado Territory. There are pleasures along the way: nice folks, and quiet days spent with Luke, her ``Darling Boy.'' But Luke, who doesn't smile at her jokes, works very hard and doesn't like her to flirt with him. As for the marital act: ``I still think it's overrated.'' Danger comes soon enough, and it's Mattie's quick shooting that saves two lives, although she doesn't seriously contradict Luke's dismissive observation that it was a ``lucky shot.'' Once they arrive in Colorado, though, Mattie is disappointed by the homestead (out on the plains, she finds, there is ``too much sky''). Her education in the real travails of people, particularly women, separated from the cushioning platitudes and quick-step judgments of home, begins immediately. A despised ``slattern'' proves herself a true friend; Mattie witnesses women weakened by too many births, another abused and horribly killed, and murder and torture by both whites and Indians. She also experiences wild joy and then tragedy, suffers many dangers, and is rocked by Luke's sudden betrayal. (``How could he ever again be my Darling Boy?'') Yet torment yields to endurance and a kind of compassion. Tragedies and sad little domestic dramas are muffled within the decency and humanity of a character whose understanding--but not essence--changes with events. A modest, appealing novel with a convincing reach into Colorado's plains and skies. (First printing 50,000; first serial to Good Housekeeping; author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312187106
• ISBN-13: 978-0312187101
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,122 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect "Covered Wagon" Story!!!!, March 16, 2001

By	Janice M. Hansen (California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sometimes your lucky day strikes and you come upon a novel that meets all your favorite topics and interests. This book was recommended to me by another Amazon.com reviewer that understood my passion for this era and took advantage of what this site has to offer to get in touch with me.

Ever since my mother passed along _Jubilee Trail_ by Gwen Bristow, I have been fascinated by the 1850's and the journey and homesteading of the western lands. While the stories of many books I have read were well done, I still wished to learn more of the everyday issues and how they managed to make do in such difficult settings. It is very evident that the author, Sandra Dallas, researched her work, for you will be delighted to learn specifics of how these men and women lived, loved, made their home and raised their children.

It is a difficult time, the end of the civil war has taken it's toll on the north and south. Men are looking to making a livelihood and forget the horrors of the war. The story centers around Mattie, a young woman who marries Luke and moves to Colorado. There, Luke challenges the land hoping to farm, and Mattie works hard to make a home in their sod house. She becomes pregnant immediately and must deliver her first child in the company of men. Mattie and Luke's marriage is stable, but Luke has some secrets and over the years Mattie discovers them. Other men see the beauty and strength in Mattie, for she is a fine lady and well respected. She easily fits in the group of men, as they discuss the issues of farming, indian revolts and homesteading. It is a very difficult life as the indians are a constant threat, alternating the kidnapping of women and children with outright murdur. Food and provisions are scarce and the risks of disease are a constant fear. Their days are long and the work is hard. There are few luxuries. A long forgotten piece of chocolate fallen into the corner of their traveling trunk serves as a treat to be scavenged and eaten. The reader is astonished at the strength these people had to have to survive in such stark and barren land. You will be pleased with the details and even more so with the plot of the story. Travel to the big city, Denver City and learn what it was like to stay in the hotel and explore the city. It is a wonderful book and I hated to come to the last page. You will, too.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great read!!!!!!, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

After reading "These Is My Words" I found "The Diary of Mattie Spenser", another book in diary format. How lucky I was to take a chance and order this from Amazon! It was a very good read and made me stop all my other projects and read this book! I only hope Sandra Dallas has more books to come. The "Persian Pickle Club" by Sandra Dallas was also a good book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Author of Breath-taking Skill, February 4, 2001

By	HeyJudy "heyjudy" (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Sandra Dallas can number me among her devoted fans. I haven't read anything yet from her that I haven't admired. And I delighted in THE DIARY OF MATTIE SPENSER; couldn't put it down.

As always with a book by Ms. Dallas, she has researched thoroughly so that her readers can truly understand the time and the place in which she sets her story.

MATTIE opens with the pioneers on the wagon train to what was then the Colorado Territory. Most of the story then unfolds on the prairie where this new bride and her husband settle. This was a place so isolated and so bleak that we now know it drove many women, and a few men, to madness.

Certainly, we understand these hardships as we sit in our warm homes, reading under the light of a good lamp. But seeing the hardships spelled out, as Dallas does here, reminds us of the extent of the woes that these people endured, and the stoicism with which they accepted their realities. Indian attacks, isolation, no plumbing, heat, light, medicine, plus childbirth fever...well, we now have a lot for which to be thankful. And the distance that, as a population, we have moved in just a century is highlighted by this diary.

Part of Dallas' skill is that she always inhabits her characters so perfectly, giving them their voices. Mattie, as Dallas writes her, is a woman of extraordinary virtues. Decent, educated, kind and capable, she accepts her bridegroom's choices and defines the old-fashioned concept of "helpmate."

Like all of Ms. Dallas' novels, this story pivots on a terrible secret, the worst secret she has written to date. I must admit that I was upset with the outcome here, though I cannot see how the diary could have ended in any other way. Still, Mattie's decision is thought-provoking in terms of today's women, and it highlights how far women have come in terms of both our rights and our freedoms within society.

I admired the concept of writing this story in the form of diary entries. Since Ms. Dallas apparently is a leading expert on Colorado frontier history, I cannot help wondering how much of MATTIE may be fact-based.

Truth or fiction, it doesn't matter. THE DIARY OF MATTIE SPENSER is a wonderful book that will stay with its admirers for years after it first is read.