THE HOMESMAN

Candace Thaxton's firm, unemotional voice reflects the hardships that broke the hearts and minds of the women who were the unsung heroines of America's western expansion. THE HOMESMAN paints a bleak picture of pioneer life on the Nebraska prairie in the early 1850s. Four wives have come through a harsh winter in a pitiful state. With none of their husbands willing to serve as homesman, that is, to escort the wives back east to their families, Mary Bee Cuddy, spinster homesteader, steps forward and, with the help of an unsavory claim jumper, begins the perilous journey. Thaxton's delivery is as persistent and unbending as the land and its hardships. Not for the fainthearted, this story will leave listeners with even greater respect for the women who settled the West. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2014]