"Shelter" by Frances Greenslade
The author drew me in and made me care about each character providing enough details that I formed a clear picture in my mind of each one. The setting was also given in vivid detail, almost romanticized in its beauty......and hardship....
This was the contradiction of the story for me; clear beauty filled with real life heart-breaking details that left me yearning to comfort these young girls until I reminded myself I was reading fiction.
For me, a true 5-star read: I became so wrapped up in this book that for a moment it all seemed real.
The only question left is why did I leave it lingering on my shelf for so long?
QUOTES FROM "SHELTER" which show the descriptive beauty in this author's writing:
Rita talked about the deer that had been eating from her garden, a young one who came by herself. No tin plates or bars of soap could keep her away. "I finally just planted some lettuce and spinach for her." Rita laughed. "She seems to know that's her part of the garden. She doesn't eat from the main one anymore."
I rode my bike down to Bull Canyon, where I could sit on a ledge of land overlooking the Chilcotin River. On the bank, wild roses were in bloom; pine needles baked in the sun. The river hurried past, turquoise and swift with mountain runoff.....Aspens trembled in the slightest breeze....the air shivered with the whir of hummingbird wings. No one here.
Bees darted among the wild raspberry bushes as Jenny and I filled our pails in the sunny clearing by the creek after breakfast. The raspberries were firm and juicy; we raced to see who could fill her pail fastest. When we were done, we sat by the creek eating them one by one.
The purple of Jacob's ladder pushed through ferns. Grasses poked from rock, and in breaks in the shade, patches of yellow balsamroot glowed in the morning sun. We climbed and the pines grew smaller, the aspens brushier, and the meadow opened up, green and awash with fowers. The sun poured down, lighting the Indian paintbrush, the balsamroot, and silver skeletons of pines, twisting amid the grass.
A woman.....in a cabin in the bush with the snow just melting and the Solomon's seal blooming under the trees and the tender turquoise broken shells of hatched birds' eggs cushioned in the moss.......
I recommend this book to those of you who enjoy reading about real life which is filled with heartache, adventure, happiness, and family. It will leave you yearning for the wilds of Canada, the beauty of nature.
