Mama Grace

By Dana Bagshaw and Letha V. Crossman

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0934188467
• ISBN13: 9780934188463
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Evans Pubns
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful novel

I read Mama Grace because it was given to me, not because I would normally choose to read a non-fiction historical account of a woman's difficult life. I was so surprised by the book: the moving account of Mama Grace's journey, the beautiful relationships that give the story depth, and the amazing courage of one woman when faced with incredible challenges. The author's style is warm and draws you into the story. You get a sense that the author really values the historical account of her family, and wants her readers to imagine what it would be like to live in Mama Grace's world: as a genuine and unassuming woman who is at times desperate and lonely, but also hopeful and content. The courage and bravery of Mama Grace helps empower us to look at our own lives differently, examine our own challenges, and learn from the small wonders that are all around us.

Authentic Pioneer Story Rings True

Dana Bagshaw's personal involvement with the story that she has written is as gripping as the story itself. One can only hope that Ms. Bagshaw will let her own role unfold as she continues to write. The author's account of an authentic pioneer family is told with an economy of words, both concise and yet, giving details, precious details. Her love for her subjects cannot be concealed, and the kinships are described with the care and gentleness that they deserve. Ms. Bagshaw's tale revolves around the title character, Mama Grace, who was, in fact, Ms. Bagshaw's great grandmother. The qualities demonstrated by this woman are almost beyond comprehension, for none of the readers of the adventures Mama Grace will know anyone, today, who could do what this woman accomplished, and these feats of hers went on for a good many years. Yet, the well-chosen words constantly reveal the inner strengths of this woman, and she is pure platinum: genuine to the core. One never doubts that she did exactly what is described. The author does not neglect the several children of Mama Grace. Carefully-drawn, as large as life, the children come to enter the conciousness of the reader in a way that next-door neighbors' children can do, in the best interpretation of those friendships. The daily adventures--dangers and joys--of Mama Grace and her brood, as the main trip is made, almost gives the reader the comfortable framework of a journal. Since there were journals, letters and other records behind the finished novel, it is refreshing that these shadowy writings are still quietly present in the words that Ms. Bagshaw spins into a story with lyrical tones. I agree with other reviewers/readers: that there is more to come, from Dana Bagshaw, and again focusing on the Barnet Family, is a promise of another tasty morsel of reading nourishment. Lorna Stokenbury Pryor University of Arkansas, College of Business Administration Ph. D. in Economics (retired) Fort Smith AR, USA

A Novel with Great Laughs and Deep Sorrow

As a 19th century woman, her five children, and a mostly absent husband struggle to scratch out an existence on the windswept plains of Oklahoma, every manner of hardship tests their will to find happiness. The book often made me laugh out loud, and softly sob more often than I would admit. "Mama Grace" is filled with many great stories, the kind passed down from generation to generation. The most poignant of which were surviving too much, then too little water, mama chopping railroad ties to free a wagon wheel, saved from a wildfire by an Indian and the "Pride of Kansas" showing from beneath a singed dress, selling milk at $.01 per quart, a chaw does in a threatening rattlesnake, a youngster lends nature a helping arm during the birth of piglets, and it's deeply moving depiction of the age old struggle between the sexes. Written with perhaps a bit too much drifting dialog at times, and with a heart wrenching ending, "Mama Grace" is a good story told well. We see life may not have a happy ending, but the journey is certainly worth the effort.

Mama Grace

Ms. Bagshaw has written a moving story about the hardships and joys experienced by a mother and her young family as they took all their remaining possessions over rough prairie country at the turn of the century. Brushes with Indians, desperados, and the hostilities of nature make for an enjoyable read. Their experiences make modern life sound terribly dull by comparison. I can barely wait for the sequel Ms. Bagshaw promises!

Historical novel based on true story

After a flood demolishes their home in Oklahoma in 1907, Mama Grace packs up her five children and her treasured Majestic cookstove into a covered wagon and travels -- minus Papa -- to her father's homestead. A hundred years on I have revised this story, based on the life of my great-grandmother and first penned by my grandmother, for the 2007 celebration of the Oklahoma Centennial. Sandra Olson of the Oklahoma Historical Society championed the book's publication, describing Grace as "a courageous woman, a true pioneer who braves the unknown, an entrepreneur, and a wife who longingly watches the road for her husband's promised coming." The book includes a photo section of historical and current photos showing the Oklahoma prairie and its people.