The Lost Wife
Sarah, a luckless woman in mid-19th century America, flees her abusive husband, leaving her daughter behind. She ends up in Minnesota, where an uneasy peace has been carved between the encroaching white population and the Sioux. Based on a captivity narrative published in 1864, this is about a woman caught between two worlds during the Sioux Uprising of 1862. The uprising, stemming from widespread starvation as a result of the American government’s failure to honor the terms of its treaty with the Sioux people, comes to Sarah’s doorstep, and she and her children are captured.
The style of this novel is understated, matter-of-fact, with moments of tentative beauty—perhaps suitable for its narrator, who has been repeatedly traumatized throughout her life and seems to experience events through a tough stoicism. Sarah is a survivor, but she’s also sensitive and observant. Because her independent character allows her to see things differently than the white settlers around her, she adapts to her captivity and finds herself occupying a liminal cultural space.
The novel brings to light an important, and tragic, part of American history. Sarah’s experience is an interesting lens through which to view the events, but because the narrative style is so detached, it can be difficult to identify with her feelings. Some readers may wish for a more emotionally expressive narrator; others will appreciate the lack of sentimentality, as the author allows the horror of the events to speak for itself.
