Luke Ashcroft's Woman

By Elizabeth Clarke

Disappointed and abandoned by all the men she knew, Charlotte Dalton vowed to make a better life for herself, by herself, in the fertile Sacramento Valley. And then she met LGBe Ashcroft. . . . This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843953918
• ISBN13: 9780843953916
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Dorchester Pub Co Inc
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 1.0" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

She never wanted to marry.

Charlotte had heard her father call her a clumsy, plain brown sparrow so often while she was growing up that she believed him. She watched her mother endure physical and verbal abuse. Her younger sister, Lucinda, spun dreams of the two sisters finding two brothers and getting married but Charlotte thought that no man would ever want to marry her. Even so, it did happen. Lucinda married Marcus and Charlotte married his brother Francis and the newly married Daltons joined a wagon train and headed West. The trip was complicated by the fact that Lucinda was already pregnant and would deliver the baby before they reached their destination. Charlotte was also worried because her own marriage was not truly a marriage and she could not get Francis to tell her why. She, of course, assumed that it was her fault because of all the years of verbal abuse suffered from her father. Also traveling on the wagon train was Luke Ashcroft and his friend and partner who were traveling to the West in order to work in the lumber camps and then own their business after earning enough money. Luke is instantly attracted to Charlotte, even after he finds out she is married, but he has his own demons to deal with and has no intention of allowing any woman into his heart. He cannot, however, ignore the fact that he wants to help Charlotte whenever possible, to protect her, to make life on the trail as easy as possible for her. His feelings of guilt over his past are so overwhelming that he feels unworthy of loving another woman. I found this book to be an intense, absorbing read. It had many elements which made it interesting, although I do believe some were handled better than others. The incident concerning Francis Dalton was just too quickly accomplished. I felt the crime the author chose him to commit in order to get rid of him as a character was much too lightweight. She obviously wanted Charlotte free to have a relationship with Luke but she needed to make his crime something much more important in order to fit the punishment. I was almost stunned at how quickly and easily she got rid of a character who was always portrayed as nice, gentle, kind, thoughtful. And I never understood his motive for committing the crime. There is a very large portion of this story dealing with a family who owned slaves and had them on the wagon train. I found Charlotte's attitude toward the slaves and the owners wonderfully portrayed. She took chances and made decisions which were very difficult to make in her situation and during this time period (1846) but it made me admire her courage and determination. Many, many things happened to all the characters in this book. I feel that you, as a reader, should be allowed to find out those specifics as you read the book. It seemed as if there were too many obstacles placed in the way for Charlotte and Luke to ever find happiness. I'm glad to say that this author found a way to tie up all the loose ends and give me the endi

deep graphic historical

In the 1880s, Charlotte Duncan accompanies her husband as they plan to head to California with a wagon train. Also making the journey is Charlotte's sister and her spouse. However, Charlotte's husband is accused of stealing and immediately hung. Stunned, the mourning widow refuse to believe her spouse was a thief. Charlotte joins the wagon train under the protection of her brother-in-law. However, her real protector is scout Luke Ashcroft, who is attracted to the feisty widow and tries to keep her safe from her extended family. As the trek continues, Charlotte feels guilty because she falls in love with Luke. However, neither plan to act on their feelings as each wants to achieve their own dream not understanding their respective goals are identical. This deep graphic look at the trail will remind gamesters of the Oregon Trail games as the trek displays the hardships of the journey and the cruelty as opposed to the more common image of camaraderie between wagon train participants. Because of this immense depth and details, readers will taste the climatic conditions and feel other natural and man-made problems as if traveling alongside Luke and Charlotte. This makes the plot seem more like a historical tale especially in light of the villain who seems pale and inane in comparison to the real danger, the trek across the country. Harriet Klausner