Written by Daniel James Brown, this is a Nonfiction book that follows the Donner Party, specifically Sarah Graves.
For those of you who don’t know, the Donner Party was a group of pioneers heading to California that were trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and were cannibals for the winter. There isn’t a good way to put that, and that is what this book is about.
One of the best things that Brown did is to make all of the characters come alive, and really put an emphasis on the mental state that they were all in. They were all suffering from Hypothermia, as well as beginning to starve. He handled the telling of this story with dignity.
The other really interesting twist that Brown did was following one of the women who went for help. There was a small group, including Sarah Graves, that went searching for help to send back to the rest of the party. And they were able to do it.
This is a really informative, good read that looks at why people/how people can be driven to this action.
