Author: Ivan Doig
Published: 2006
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.5
Summary
Can't cook but doesn't bite." So begins the newspaper ad offering the services of an "A-1 housekeeper, sound morals, exceptional disposition" that draws the hungry attention of widower Oliver Milliron in the fall of 1909. And so begins the unforgettable season that deposits the noncooking, nonbiting, ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee. When the schoolmarm runs off with an itinerant preacher, Morris is pressed into service, setting the stage for the "several kinds of education"--none of them of the textbook variety--Morris and Rose will bring to Oliver, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region's one-room schoolhouse.
Review
Told through the eye of the exceptionally intelligent oldest son of a Montana dry farmer. The action--while not fast-paced--is well-crafted and appropriately reflects the pace of life at the time. The unique setting is engaging; the characters well-developed and interesting. Nice prose. A great read.
