#41

The latest read was an excellent choice. Little known adventure that took place in the 1896 when Helga Estby took a wager from a group of fashion designers to walk across America. She took her eldest daughter, Clara, against the daughter's wishes and set off on the trek to New York City. The amount they were to win was $10,000 but the terms were that they had to arrive on a certain date. They money was to save their family farm and even though it meant leaving her husband and other younger children, she was determined to get to New York on time. There was a clause that covered time off for sickness but the sprained ankle that Clara suffered was not allowed and it set them back too much to arrive on time. There was no money to get back home and the women ended up having to beg for a train ticket. Arriving back home they discovered that two of the children had died of diptheria and the family had turned against them for abandoning them. The trip was never to be mentioned and Clara who found out a secret on their journey was turned out and left to make her own way. Thus the name of this novel, "The Daughter's Walk by Jane Kirkpatrick. I will be looking for the novel by Linda Lawrence Hunt which covers the walk in more detail. Kirkpatrick's account covered the walk but went on to try to cover what happened to the daughter from records she found.