Land of My Heart

I really enjoyed Dianne as a character but I didn't like her POV continually getting interrupted. There is a lot of tragedy that happens, but the story keeps trucking along and the distractions of the constant POV switches made it hard to fully enter into the feeling of what those events mean to Dianne and those around her. I guess I'm rather saying it could have wrung my heart and yet it failed to.

It's a solid story and mostly historically accurate to 1864 and on. Two things jumped out to me as being much later in scope; Texas ranches weren't a thing until the western railroad came through; the huge cattle drives to Kansas began in the 1870s. Montana was considered the promised land of fertile soil and Texas was considered mostly worthless land by comparison. The “one-drop-laws” were introduced 1910-1924 with the rise of eugenics and weren't applied at this time. There was nothing in American law at the time which prevented KoKo from inheriting her husband's land, as the Indians who had renounced tribal life and were living as white were to be treated as regular citizens: “Where persons reported as “Half-breeds” are found residing with whites, adopting their habits of life and methods of industry, such persons are to be treated as belonging to the white population. Where, on the other hand, they are found in communities composed wholly, or mainly of Indians, the opposite construction is taken.”—1870 census. If he worried about the legality of his marriage, he had only to name her as his legal heir. But Montana didn't enact miscegenation legislature until 1909 because several of the lawmakers had native wives.

I guess it just bugs me for people to point out “racism, racism” where the laws the folks were upset about weren't enacted until two generations later.

I really liked the strong Christian lessons and clear Gospel presentation.