A Lantern in Her Hand, by Bess Streeter Aldrich, is a book about pioneers and pioneer women. It reminded me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as well as A Bride Goes West, which are both books about pioneer women. A Lantern in Her Hand tells the story of Abbie Mackenzie Deal, daughter of an Irish peasant woman and a wealthy Scottish man, a girl who wanted to grow up to be a lovely lady. But sometimes dreams don't come true just the way we imagine.
Abbie Deal has a beautiful voice and beautiful dreams. She thought she would become a lovely lady someday, a famous singer, but when the chance came, she married the man she loved instead and moved to Nebraska. She postpones her dreams and helps her husband to farm and tame the prairie. On the wild frontier with only a few neighbors for company and work for three men to be done, Abbie learns hard lessons about life. As the years pass, they begin to have small successes, life begins to have a certain rhythm and order, and Abbie holds onto her dreams and keeps singing. Then there are the five children, and Abbie postpones her dreams again so that she can save money to send them to school. She watches them get married and move away to start lives of their own as the hands of Time move steadily forward. Will dies, and Abbie is alone except for her children and now grandchildren. She grows older, frailer, she cannot sing, and she cannot travel anymore. At the end of her life, she didn't become the lovely lady that her hopeful six-year-old self dreamed of. But she is a lovely lady all the same - a lovely lady who has lived a long life of love and joy in the middle of a loving group of family and friends.
I enjoyed A Lantern in Her Hand for a variety of reasons. First, it was a well-told story that covered a huge span of time - from very early in Abbie's life until the day she died. Reading this book was almost like reading a very interesting biography, especially since Bess Streeter Aldrich actually based the life of Abbie on her own mother. A Lantern in Her Hand is a good example of a pioneer book that really portrays the reality of what it was like for them to do what they did. This book also went a step further than most pioneer books and described the life of a pioneer woman in a time when the pioneers had become part of history instead of the cutting edge of history. That was a treat, and something I've been unable to find in other pioneer books I've read. Those pioneers didn't die once America was settled, but you don't often find a book that talks about what they did with the rest of their lives. A Lantern in Her Hand is definitely unique in that respect.
The other thing that really impressed me in A Lantern in Her Hand was Abbie herself. It's hard not to relate to Abbie as you see her growing up, getting married, having a family, and gradually getting older and older until you suddenly find she's a great-grandmother. Pioneering wasn't the theme of A Lantern in Her Hand, even though it played a significant part. For Abbie, family and friendship was everything. Her strong, enduring pioneer spirit really shows in the entire book, but so does the vital importance of family to her. It was also eye-opening to read about a character who aged by decades over the course of the book, not months or a handful of years as you'll find in most other books. Experiencing a character on that many levels and at that many stages in a life was eye-opening. In that respect, A Lantern in Her Hand was very much like a biography.
To close, I'd suggest A Lantern in Her Hand to anyone. It was great material, and though the story was long and detailed, the language wasn't complicated. Just the experience of having read the book was rewarding to me, and it was a book that really made me think about life - not just Abbie's but mine and my family's. A book that can do that to you is one worth spending a few evening's reading, and A Lantern in Her Hand, despite being someone's life story, isn't a very big book. It could easily fit into two or three afternoons. So get it, read it. It's a little gem of a book that I'm very glad to have picked up.
Link to Bess Streeter Aldrich Foundation website: http://www.bessstreeteraldrich.org/
You know the book was written a long time ago when the author has her own museum. Sometimes the old books are the best.
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