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A review by lindamarieaustin110159
The Measure of a Lady by Deeanne Gist
3.0
I was attracted by the beautiful cover, and went into this read without any background on the novel. I was disappointed. This book may be correct in its view of the roles of men and women at the time, but I found it to be very sexist. The only saving grace is that Gist endowed Rachel with a keen interest in the natural world, specifically insects, which was atypical of women in that era. I also understand that Rachel would likely be ordinary as a woman of the 1840’s in her views of prostitutes, but I found her to be very judgmental and far too rigid. Christian fiction is not my genre, so this just was not for me.
The Van Buren siblings, Rachel, Lissa, and Michael lost their mother when they were young. In the late 1840’s their father heard tales of easy gold in California, decided to try his luck and bought tickets for his family to sail to San Francisco. Unfortunately, he died during the voyage. Now his three children find themselves alone, far from their native Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rachel, at twenty, is the oldest and takes responsibility for finding a place for them to stay and way to support themselves until they can save enough money and hopefully find a ship that they can return home on. In this foreign land drinking, gambling, and rough living are all too prevalent. Women are few and far between and are called “sunbonnets”. Rachel is guided by her faith and the bible. She has little toleration for the exploitation she witnesses and finds it very difficult to associate with those she deems to be sinners.
The Van Buren siblings, Rachel, Lissa, and Michael lost their mother when they were young. In the late 1840’s their father heard tales of easy gold in California, decided to try his luck and bought tickets for his family to sail to San Francisco. Unfortunately, he died during the voyage. Now his three children find themselves alone, far from their native Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rachel, at twenty, is the oldest and takes responsibility for finding a place for them to stay and way to support themselves until they can save enough money and hopefully find a ship that they can return home on. In this foreign land drinking, gambling, and rough living are all too prevalent. Women are few and far between and are called “sunbonnets”. Rachel is guided by her faith and the bible. She has little toleration for the exploitation she witnesses and finds it very difficult to associate with those she deems to be sinners.