Excellent Historical Fiction Read

I would like to recommend a very good fiction book I just read entitled "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" by Ann Weisbarger.  It's a good story and if you like history like I do, a look into the homesteading past of the state of South Dakota.  The DuPree family lives in Southern South Dakota, where Rachel and Isaac, the father and Mother of the family each claimed an acreage when they were married.  It is a book about hardships, making do with what you have and having to do things you would never in your life thought you could.

Rachel is a strong woman who has birthed 8 children but only 3 survived the harsh living on the homestead.  Isaac is into acquiring more land and cattle.  The orginal homestead grows as people who came to homestead find that the climate is not what they thought.  A severe drought which lasts the summer leaves the family with nothing stored for winter.  Even after the rain, it is September and not much will grow in a short time.  Rachel and Isaac have a disagreement about what to do for the winter.  You will have to read the book to find out what happens, but it will surprise you very much. 

I admired Rachel a lot.  She did whatever she needed to do to assure the survival of her family.  They had to have been one of the only black families who tried their luck in the Dakotas.