by Sara Dahmen
It would have been two years of mourning for Jane after Henry Weber died, and those years would have been spent in black and grey, purple and lavender, so her change to colorful clothes in less than six months would have felt highly improper to an Eastern woman. Plus, her pregnancy would have been quite a huge scandal considering the timing. Jane’s miscarriage and subsequent hemorrhage is correctly portrayed.
The Irish really did have a huge hand in creating the West, and America, as we know it. With their ability to assimilate, as well as the lack of a social hierarchy in Western towns, the nationality typically found little resistance in finding success, but not always.
All the food and kitchen tools used in Jane’s kitchens, and the “new inventions” Trusty Willy bought, are period correct, and while it was not common, women could and did run general stores and tinsmith shops and post offices. The West was very much a place of new freedom, for all that it also could hold with typical prejudices and intolerances. Living for that freedom, and for love and family, was intensely important to all the pioneers. It’s a theme, I think, that is still important today.
With joy —
Sara Dahmen
overlooking the fields, Wisconsin
Acknowledgements
It truly takes an army to get a book off the ground, and I’ve been fortunate to have a ridiculous amount of support and mentors throughout the years as well as family that understands my need to write. So I must first thank my agent, Kiffer Brown and my manager, Daine Sillan. Without their enthusiasm, insight, and vision to get this book whipped into shape, I wouldn’t be writing much of anything at this point! I must also thank my editor, Craig Andersen, for the nudging on a variety of corners to prod Widow 1881 into the form it takes today.
A shout goes to Leanne Yarrow, for the brainstorming session out of which Jane’s agony arose. Without the guidance of Lesley Kagen, I likely would still be foundering in the early wanderings of a newly minted author. And without my parents and my in-laws, I’d probably never get two seconds to write, as they help corral my children as needed—children who I hope will read this someday or become authors themselves.
And of course, this book owes its lifeblood to John. My husband. My wiċaȟča mihigna. My “other skin.”
Historical References
Bleed, Blister, and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier by Volney Steele, M.D.
The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846–1890 by Robert M. Utley
Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn by James E. Mueller
Science and the Practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century by W. F. Bynum
Early American Cast Iron Holloware 1645–1900 by John Tyler
The Old West by Stephen G. Hyslop
Images of America: Gloucester and Rockport by John Hardy Wright
Frontier America: The Far West by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Manners and Morals of Victorian America by Wayne Erbsen
Kitchenware: A Guide for the Beginning Collector by Geraldine Cosentino and Regina Stewart
Cape Ann Granite by Paul St. Germain
The Working Girls of Boston [From the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for 1884] by Carroll D. Wright.
Reading and Writing the Lakota Language by Albert White Hat Sr.
How the Irish Won the West by Myles Dungan
Antique Medical Instruments by C. Keith Wilbur, M.D.
The American Hearth by the Broome County Historical Society
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by Jim Webb
The Historical Atlas of Native Americans by Dr. Ian Barnes
Book Club Questions
1. Jane is rightfully nervous about moving to the western Territories. Are there ways in which you would judge the physical hardships of Western daily life to the new kinds of expectations and hardships modern women manage?
2. The idea of staying with a Sioux Indian would be frightening at the least to an Eastern woman who has been taught that all Indians are savage. What character traits does Jane show by staying with Widow Hawks anyway?
3. Widow Hawks and her family are often referred to with fear, but her behavior is never nefarious. Are there ways you would consider Widow Hawks to still be uncivilized?
4. Did you feel Kate’s attitude toward her mother was justified? How is her behavior similar to what we see in mother/daughter relationships today?
5. Were you surprised at Widow Hawks’ resigned attitude toward her living situation? Would you have stayed and suffered violence to be near family?
6. Did you find Jane’s lack of attachment to her child or deceased husband shocking or surprising?
7. How is Jane a product of her time?
8. Do you think Jane was particularly obtuse about the budding romantic interest of the doctor? Do you think she loved him before she articulated it? Why do you suppose she did not act on her growing attachment to him and instead pushed him toward Kate?
9. Compare your concept of romantic love and married love to Jane’s other romances. What did you think about her marriage to Henry? Her courtship with Bern and Andrew? Do you think these types of marriages and relationships still exist in our society? Do you think they end similarly? ie: do people still marry for some convenience and plan to stick together?
10. Jane’s behavior with Theodore during her early widowhood would have been considered exceptionally scandalous for her time. Today unmarried or unattached pregnant women do not suffer such extreme stigma in general; how do you think behaviors and prejudices have changed? Stayed the same?
11. Were you surprised by the violence done to Widow Hawks and the lack of response to it by the town? How you do feel about her role as the banker’s mistress for many decades?
12. What do you think is the biggest turning point in the book? Why?
13. Were you surprised at the depiction of the Native American situation along the walls of Fort Randall when Jane and Patrick go to get Widow Hawks?
14. Flats Junction is populated by many different people. Did you have a reaction to any of the other peripheral characters? Why?
15. Do you think Kate was a relatable character? Do you feel she imbues parts of your personality in some respects, in terms of her independence? Is she a redemptive character?
The Flats Junction Series
Widow
Smith
Outcast
Medicineman
Steelmaker
Stranger
For more information, visit www.flatsjunction.com.
Watch for Flame: Our Love Affair with Cookware, Sara’s book highlighting the science, history, use, and care of cookware.
To connect with Sara, visit www.saradahmen.com.
Find her on Twitter at @saradahmenbooks, on Facebook, or Instagram at @sara_dahmen.
To learn about Sara’s cookware line inspired by her research for Flats Junction, visit www.housecopper.com.
