Thursday, February 27, 2020

The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories edited by Hazel Rumney


First Lines from the Introduction: For so long she was a footnote. Her story was not included within the main account of westward migration.

There's not much I can say about this excellent short story anthology other than WOW. If you love historical fiction, read The Spoilt Quilt. If you love stories about strong women, read The Spoilt Quilt. If you love stories about the American West, read The Spoilt Quilt.

I think I've probably gotten my point across by now!

This book first caught my eye because one of my favorite authors, Larry D. Sweazy, has a story included. Then I saw that the introduction is written by another favorite author, Chris Enss. When I looked at the table of contents, my mouth began to water. Sandra Dallas, Charlotte Hinger, Deborah Morgan... the longer the list, the more I wanted to read this book.

I'm glad I did. There's not a weak story in the bunch, and it's impossible for me to name one favorite. Speaking of favorites, I enjoyed all my favorite authors' stories, and I was introduced to several new authors. You can't beat that, can you?

The stories range from high-action ones to stories that are introspective. The women face life-changing challenges in settings far from civilized society, and the ways they deal with their challenges are as diverse as they are. The Spoilt Quilt is a wonderful collection that I urge all of you to read.


The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories: Pioneering Women of the West
edited by Hazel Rumney
ISBN: 9781432864293
Five Star Publishing © 2019
Hardcover, 361 pages

Short Story Anthology
Rating: A+
Source: Purchased from Amazon.

7 comments:

  1. Oh, interesting! I do like a good historical story, and it sounds as though there are some well-developed characters here. That's not easy to pull off in a short story format. Hmm....I haven't read a good short story collection just lately. This might definitely be worth investigating...

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  2. Oh, gosh, more books about strong women. (sigh) (note to self: add to TBR list)

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    1. There are some stories in this anthology that you should really like, Kathy.

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  3. One glitch: Read some criticisms at Goodreads that there are no stories about women of color. Indigenous women were "out West" already and I'm sure Black women were living out there, too.

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    1. So don't read it. That will make your TBR stacks a tad smaller.

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  4. Yes. But I'm rather dismayed that the editor didn't think of diversity of women. So I will look for another story collection.

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