A Sudden Country

by Karen Fisher

Book Overview

A vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption.

James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudson's Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812973437
• ISBN13: 9780812973433
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Not a lightweight romance

If you're looking for a bodice-ripper, go in another direction. This is a serious, heavy, story with, at times, prose for narrative. Not all books are "easy reads" either in wording or subject matter. This novel is well worth the effort the reader must invest to understand each character. Karen Fisher has captured, in my mind, the struggles and stark reality of life on the Oregon Trail. Her descriptions of even the mundane were tangible. Like other reviewers, I found myself re-reading passages not only for deeper understanding, but in sheer amazement of Fisher's way with words. This novel is for those with an interest in history and in understanding what remains when all is stripped away in life. You might be surprised at the end.

The Great Journey

Karen Fisher writes about the Frontier West with such vividness and authenticity one might believe she actually lived back then and has been reincarnated. Another rare skill the author possesses is the ability to depict male and female characters with equal force and finesse. Lucy Mitchell and James MacLaren are unforgettable protagonists. The journey they embark on is spellbinding. It is fraught with a tension so intense and exquisite one can only marvel at the storytelling skills of this great new writer. If you enjoyed 'Cold Mountain' then you'll love 'A Sudden Country'.

Best book I have read in years!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the author's writing style.I found myself seeing everything as she described it..no fluff..which I loved for a change. Her raw, lean descriptions of the way things were for this group of characters was so real and accurate that it made for a great read. I found myself having such empathy for Lucy and McLaren and even for Lucy's husband...but understanding why it ended the way it did. I just loved every bit of this book..would recomend it to anyone who loves true history, and the outdoors and dosn't mind getting dirty.

Outstanding Prose

I was very impressed by this woman's first novel. The lyricism of the language was striking, and best of all, her writing style brought a quality of fierce beauty to the characters and the landscape that I found uplifting and powerful. Also, the sex scenes are gorgeous and erotic. I am a big fan of Cormac McCarthy as well, but this woman's prose leaves you with a strong sense of possibility and hope; McCarthy's prose is darker and more angst-ridden. I recommend this book heartily. Its originality is remarkable.

Fisher writes like Seurat painted

I just finished A Sudden Country and found it to be absolutely extraordinary. It was so richly detailed I swear the author must have been there herself, struggling westward along the Oregon Trail in 1847. How else could anyone know these things? The writing is superb, though complex and impressionistic. To me, Fisher's book is like a Seurat painting; each sentence a brilliant dot of color and light, layered upon the pages by the thousands until a story takes shape that is at once dreamy and impressionistic yet viscerally authentic. I haven't savored a book this much since The English Patient.