The book changes narrator a few chapters in and through the character of Will we learn how he abandoned one family in Texas and ended up with another in New Mexico who knew him by the name of Sam. many others, those who couldn’t find water, had simply given up and moved on. Only those who had come to New Mexico several years ago had built adobe houses. Our life was the same as most of our neighbors. In the winter, it remained warm when the wind howled down the mountain. I was grateful for the shelter it provided–cool in the summer, offering protection from the blistering sun. The neighbor had generously offered some leftover wood to build the entrance door. They made adobe bricks to build up the walls around the entrance and to construct steps down into the large room. The work was grueling but, finally, they had prepared two rooms – one large, one small. During our first few weeks, Sam, helped by the older boys and a generous neighbor, dug out the hard dry soil in the mountainside. We had arrived in New Mexico almost two years earlier.

What was life like living in a dugout? I recently discovered my own great grandparents homesteading in New Mexico living in a dugout so I pictured them as I read. The Scott family while living in Nebraska. We come to know the kind of real dangers our own ancestors might have encountered. Written in her voice we commiserate with her facing the challenges of the trail. Now alone with five children, Sarah decides to make the journey from their dugout in New Mexico back to her family in Nebraska.

The book opens with the death of Sarah’s husband, Sam. With the exception of Nebraska, I have family history records and stories in all of those locations. Sarah’s Secret is set in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Nebraska. She visited several locations where the family had lived to do onsite research and her descriptions helped me put my own ancestors in their time and place. If you’re ready to step back in time to 1911, why not come along for the adventure?īev previously shared her genealogical journey to uncover the truth about her family secret. As an avid reader and a family historian, I am always on the lookout for interesting books based on family stories so we’re featuring Sarah’s Secret as our May book club selection. Have you ever discovered a family secret and thought, “this would make a great novel?” Beverly Scott did and the result is her first work of fiction: Sarah’s Secret: A Western Tale of Betrayal and Forgiveness.

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