Great historical fiction about the trail to California and the early pioneers of the country

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	• Jubilee Trail Gwen Bristow Chicago Review Press, 2006 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I didn't want it to end!

This book was recommended to me in my favorites quite a while ago, and I finally decided to give it a try. It was so good. I never wanted to put it down, and when I was finished I wanted it to keep going. I have read "These is my words" and loved that. This is another to add to it.

Great historical fiction about the trail to California and the early pioneers of the country

Living out West I've always been into the history of the Oregon trail but I never knew very much about the history off the California trial (except apparently there was assign showing the turn to Oregon and on fork was a nugget of gold and on the other was the word Oregon because the settlers in Oregon wanted more people to come there and settle who knew how to read and the illiterate people went to California) so reading "Jubilee Trail was kind of a history lesson for me. And an interesting, well written one at that.

This is the story of Garnet, a very well brought up New York socialite in the 1840's who ends up marrying a man who is a trader on the Jubilee trail, the trail to California, which Garnet has never even heard of. She marries Oliver because she wants adventure so bad, and ends up going on the trail with him. Along the way she meets Florinda, who is a sort of actress/courtesan with a very mysterious past but a heart of gold. The book tells the story of the journey to California and Garnet's meeting with Oliver's evil older brother Charles, who has Oliver so squarely under his thumb he makes Garnet feel like an exile in the beautiful flower cover Californian country. But she also meets Oliver's mysterious, emotionless best friend John, and his best friend the seven foot tall Russian called the Handsome Brute. When disaster strikes for Garnet, leaving her 3,000 miles from family in a wild country she will have to rely on her own strength and endurance, because even though she has great friends, pioneers can not depend on each other for sole support.

This is really a good historical book. Its quite accurate from what I can tell and very well plotted in the smallest details that all fall to place at the very end. Though it was written 50 years ago it's very readable and in fact, this gives the unique perspective of letting you see what people in the 1950'ss thought of people in the 1840's-so it's like a double historical. It also has wonderful insights into human nature and the nature of pioneers especially, which are beautifully expressed. I recommend this book highly and look forward to reading others by this author.

Five stars.

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Not as good as Calico Palace

Good book, but I liked Calico Palace much better. Jubilee Trail is just a little to predictable.

Ms. Padilla was right!

We had a rather intimidating librarian at my high school, but she was also very insightful when suggesting books. I was Junior when she handed this book to me, stuck her face right in mine, and said, "This book is out of print, so if I don't get it back, YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!" As she escorted me to the checkout table, she gave me a full dissertation on how wonderful the story was, and how much I'd love it. Staring at the plain blue cover with white writing on the spine, I wondered what could be so great. Curious, I took it home.

Trying to avoid my sister later that night, I stretched out across the foot of my bed, and decided to give it a chance... It had my full attention well within the first chapter, and I finished the entire 300-something page book within three days - three SCHOOL days, I might add. I absolutely devoured this book.

I returned it to Ms. Padilla gushing about it, and she had my full trust in any other suggestions she had. I have a few other favorites that were first placed in my hands by that woman, but this one stood out in my memory for a long time as honestly and truly one of the very best books I had ever read - and this is coming from a 'Gone With the Wind' fanatic, too!

***

Fast forward six years, my sister calls me from a rare bookstore to ask the name of the book I'd read in high school and loved... She knew I was looking for a copy, and thoughtfully decided to stop and search for me. Lo and behold, they had a first edition. They obviously didn't know what it was worth, because it was only $8.95. A gem for that low price; what a shame.

I read it again, and was just as enraptured as I was the first time! I now tell everyone that it is my absolute favorite book in the entire world, and the few people who have read it on my suggestion have all but kissed me for it.

***

I really encourage you to pick this one up... Meet Garnet, Oliver, Florinda, John, and - my favorite - Texas. They will have a place in your heart forever, just like they do mine. This is one you pass down to your children.

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The book has aged well at 50+ years

I can't believe I had never heard of this book before, and I am grateful to my Amazon friend who did review it or I would never have found it. I was quite surprised, as Amazon is usually so good at recommending similar items once it picks up on your reading habits.

This is the story of just out of finishing school Garnet, who meets and falls in love with Oliver Hale while he's visiting New York from California. Garnet has an adventurous spirit that Oliver indulges and they're off to California via the Jubilee Trail. Along the way they meet up with Florinda, the "bad" woman with a heart of gold and Garnet and Florinda become great friends, and support each other during the good and bad times as they cross the country and come to California before it is governed by the US.

The author does a very nice job of setting the scenery and the conditions along the trail -- you almost feel the dust in your mouth and on your skin and hair. I loved the way she used John's love of nature so that you can visualize everything from the snow topped mountains, to the red rocks of the southwest, to the wide open ranges, and the flora and fauna of California.

All in all a jolly good yarn, I had a hard time putting this down until the very end at the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill. Highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, and as this was written 50+ years ago, the love scenes (if you can call them that) are very chaste and well suited for a younger reader.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The history of California in the mid-19th century comes alive in this captivating historical novel. Garnet Cameron, a fashionable young lady of New York, is leading a neat, proper life, full of elegant parties and polite young men, yet the prospect of actually marrying any of them appalls her. Yearning for adventure, she instead marries Oliver Hale, a wild trader who is about to cross the mountains and deserts to an unheard-of land called California. During Garnet and Oliver's honeymoon in New Orleans, she meets a dance-hall performer on the lam who calls herself Florinda Grove and is also traveling to California. Along the Jubilee Trail, Garnet and Florinda meet kinds of men never known to them before, and together they make their painstaking way over the harsh trail to Los Angeles, learning how to live without compromise and discover both true friendship and true love.

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