*Book Review* Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

Nothing Daunted
by Dorothy Wickenden
Scribner 2011

Have you heard your mother or grandmother describe their trips abroad when they were young and just getting going in life, before they met their husband and commenced the serious business of life?

Or have you had occasion to read the journals or letters of people who set out on glorious journeys and undertook to describe their adventures for the folks back home?

Nothing Daunted describes the trek of two friends from upstate New York just before World War I who were privileged enough to take the grand tour of Europe, come home, and then respond to an advertisement for teachers in the then open territory of Colorado. The story is constructed from letters and interviews with surviving descendants of the strong young women.

When they arrived in the small town, they found a school house that was the nicest building in a town focused on educating its young people. Of course there were hazards and hassles. They persevered, each meeting fine young men whom they married. One of the bridegrooms was behind the advertising seeking eligible young women. He succeeded.

The story is told in a style that is imminently readable and enjoyable. Like a fine movie, the reader feels a part of the story as it evolves.

As I read, I kept wondering if Dorothy Wickenden would express her own questions about what was left out of the letters and stories passed down to family and friends. After all, the story is told through the lens of letters sent home by young women off on an adventure in the evolving (not wild) West. Surely, they had all manner of adventures that they would not write home to their parents about. Did you write home about everything that you did as a young person away from at college, in the military, or wherever? Of course not.

I also kept looking for the author’s questions or observations about what she learned in her reading and interviewing.

In any event, Nothing Daunted was read by our Philosophers’ Club (a group of 13 men ages about 55-70). It produced a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting discussion, which ended up being about these two subjects that I hoped to find in the story. We had a fine time reliving our own youth.

I am sure you will have the same experience, and, as with all excellent stories, ask your own range of questions as you close the cover after a fine read.

Warms, Cym

Resources:

Houston Chron Review
Amazon
NYT Review

Have a great day & see you at Wednesday's review party!

-CYM