"The Wilder Life" by Wendy McClure is the author's non-fiction journey into the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House series.
Seriously? Why didn't I think of this??
McClure, like me, grew up reading and loving the Little House books and, as an adult, decided to submerge herself in "Laura World" to learn as much as she could about the real Ingalls family by visiting the places they really lived, cooking the food they really ate, doing the chores they really did and reading practically every written word about them that exists.
Being the huge geek I am, I'd looked up some info on Laura (there's a previous post about her in here somewhere) and the others, so some of what McClure discovered wasn't shocking to me. Other things were, such as Pa knowingly -- and illegally! -- settling on Indian land in Kansas, and that the family lived in and helped run a hotel in Iowa (never mentioned in the books) and skipped town in the middle of the night to avoid paying up on a debt.
Other things helped some puzzle pieces find their place. I'd always thought Pa was sort of irresponsible in the books, hauling his family all over the place and having them endure such a hard life, being brand-new settlers almost everywhere they went. Laura wrote it off as his adventurous spirit, but in reality it seems like the man was an opportunist. I'd also always wondered about Ma, who never seemed as warm as Laura wanted to make her out to be. I always thought she was never happy being a pioneer woman or a farmer's wife. She'd never say so, of course, but I always felt Ma would have been happier if they'd stayed East, and was therefore bitter.
Then there's the stuff with Almanzo. In the books, Laura seems oblivious to his interest until other people start pointing it out. In reality, I think she was aware and simply not interested until at least a year into their acquaintance. Also, Almanzo's age is sort of ambiguous in the story, so we think he's a couple of years older than Laura at the most. In reality he was 10 years older than she, and it's just creepy to think of a 25-year-old man pursuing a 15-year-old girl, so I can't say I blame Laura for writing around that age difference.
McClure seems to have a hard time reconciling the feeling she got while reading the books with the feelings she has in the world of the real people. I'd like to go to a couple of these places myself and see what feelings I have. The important conclusion that McClure comes to, which is one I came to while doing my own research, is that the books are inspired by real people and not necessarily autobiographical. However, since Laura was the author (and would this even have been an issue if she wrote under a pen name?) and it was her own life that inspired the story, they are as credible and genuine in spirit as they ever were, regardless of whether or not the events are true.
"Case Histories" by Kate Atkinson is a mystery novel that was recommended to me by Dianna. Private investigator Jackson Brodie is challenged with working the unsolved murder of an 18-year-old woman (crime happened 10 years previous), the unsolved disappearance of a 3-year-old girl (she vanished 34 years previous) and discovering the whereabouts of a woman who ran away from home as a teenager and would be in her mid-twenties today.
We jump from Brodie's point of view to the characters surrounding each case (mainly the characters who come to Brodie for help), but in the end we see what actually happened to the three subjects.
The truth about the case of the missing toddler wasn't shocking to me, since the guilty party was built up to be suspicious all along. The details of the other characters surrounding the events are what make the mystery rich, and there is certainly more than one person at fault for the course of events.
The truth about the teenage woman's murder is a little random. Several characters around that case are built up to be possible suspects, but in the end it's someone we don't even know who is to blame. That felt a bit like a letdown.
The third case is the most complex, since it involves stolen identities and the least amount of information. I am happy to say I figured out the true identity of the runaway before it was revealed, but the truth about the events that led to the girl's circumstances was a surprise.
All of these characters cross each other's paths in some way, but never in a way that felt forced or unrealistic. I also really enjoyed the writing itself. With the grisly material of the unsolved crimes it was nice to have moments of humor and sarcasm in the mix.
Speaking of the crimes: They were all against girls and/or young women. And the male characters whose thoughts and points of view we saw were very protective of females and always saw the potential danger they were in. The whole thing is like a giant warning note from Atkinson to young women: Beware! You are never safe! There are parts of the book that are unpleasant, but I think that underlying message is what gives the story its true sense of unease.
