The Legacy of Rose Bodeen

By Faye Roberts

Description:

Imagine for a moment, being gifted old journals written by your foremothers. Four generations of thoughts, heartaches, challenges and triumphs. What secrets did they keep inside? What lessons could they give you now?
Marina Townsend is given such a gift after the death of her mother, with a stipulation attached. She must put the old diaries into books to be passed down to future generations. In other words, she must first accept and inherit her heritage before she can inherit the land. What starts as a simple narration, ends up changing Marina’s life in ways she could never imagine.
Her first challenge is Great-Great Grandma Rose Bodeen, born in 1877. A hard-living kind of girl, Rose can out-ride and out-cuss any hand on the Silver Cross. After being jilted, she finds adventure waiting beyond the boundaries of the ranch: Buffalo Bill and his Wild West, and love with all its joys and heartaches. But just as her wise Mama said, the land draws her back like the sun draws flowers from the ground in spring.
Rose’s writings detail matter-of-fact conviction and bull-headed tenacity, as she strives to survive and prosper during the many changes of her time: the Great War, the fight for a woman’s right to vote, the Industrial Revolution and replacing horses with machines, the high-kicking 1920’s and the Great Depression. She lives thrilling triumphs, and suffers deep despair that tests her faith and fortitude. Through it all, she comes to accept the ‘anvil time’ that comes with being the proud caretaker of the Silver Cross Ranch.

Book Takeaway:

Though times and circumstances change, needs and desires are the same. The lessons of history are the wise teachers that can bring hope for the future.

Why the author wrote this book:

A continuation of Fragile Treaties, the best way to teach history is to combine events with an intriguing story.