Heart of the West

This was one of the best books I’ve ever read. I was hoping that it would never end. What an emotional journey it was ! Would make a great movie

This is one of my favorite books. This is more than a novel, it is a hymn to love. We followed the destiny of three women who meet in a country that doesn't fit them : Montana. They were hurt by life and still, they can find the courage to adapt to this country, and to rule it their way. And what wonderful characters Penelope Williamson created! I'm amazed at how independant and strong, and yet fragile and human, the women she depicted are. Clementine, Hannah and Erlan are three different persons but they are all the women in the world, with their joys and their sorrows. Clementine must be one of the most impressive female character I've ever seen. I would have loved the entire book was it only for her and Rafferty. They are such a heartbreaking, vibrating couple. Their feelings were so deep that I could feel it through the pages and their undying love for each other so real. Definately a great book!

I read the teaser for this book a couple of years ago and kept putting it off and off. The idea of having two brothers in love with the same heroine and the long seperation that the two fated lovers went through really made me wary of reading this novel. I finally picked up a hardback copy and on one fine day I sat down to read it; I couldn't put it down. This novel is an epic that spans twelve years of Clememtine Kennicutt McQueen's life, from her coming of age, to revelations, joys, heartbreaks, waiting, yearning, and finally the culmination of all the years of ardent forbidden love when Clem and Zach are finally free to love and be together. If you are put of by epics, which I am, you should read this anyway. The novel centers around Clemintine's life but it also richly details her relationship with Hannah Yorke a saloon owner and ex-prostitute, Erlan Woo, a Chinese mail order bride, to a white widow who was once a captive of a Native tribe. Ms. Williamson not only tells us about these people through Clemintine's eyes, but she lets us see most of the characters through eachothers eyes. The novel is about what happens to a young girl when she finds out she married the wrong man? Through her writing we see Clem's struggle to truly love Gus the way he loves her, we see that her love for Zach is as natural as breathing. While she loved her husband, it is really his brother who is the grand passion of her life and you can't find fault with Clemintine and Zach because they didn't have an adulterous affair, on the contrary it breaks the heart to read what they went through to reach the end together. This novel isn't just about the love of a husband for his wife, her struggle to love him completely, two star crossed lovers passion for eachother, but it also emcompasses a woman's struggle to keep her own identity, it's also about the friendship between women who have nothing in common and yet so much in common because they are all women, it's about the love of a mother for her children. This novel transcends a genre and is really a novel about life in the west where nothing was constant and love was the only constant.

This would be a wonderful epic saga of the old west and romance. It would fit in with North and South. I could not put the book down once I started it and it is a long book. I was really depressed when it ended. The fire and passion between Clementine and Rafferty is breathtaking and it goes on for years since she is married to his brother Gus which she loves but Rafferty is her heart fire the one that her body and heart craves. But you also love Gus and his gentle ways and he truly loves his wife. The other characters in the book are just as wonderful - Hannah the ex-whore, Erlan the Chinese bought wife, and Saphronie the struggling girl that was taken by indians and saved. They are all looking for their great love.

I've read hundreds and hundreds of books over the years. And I'd have to say that Heart of the West is definitely one of my all time favorite books. It is a beautiful story about three remarkable women who brave the western frontier in the 1800s. All three women are very brave and very strong. The story is wonderfully written. It makes you feel like your in the west back when electricty wasn't yet invented and you had to go out in the yard to those porta-pottie-type-things to use the bathroom. I know that when I read this book it made me believe that this is what living back then was really like. Personally, when I was reading this book I wanted several times to go jump in an ocean and swim for miles or go running for miles, because I got very frustrated when Clemenine and her love, Rafferty, were not able to be together. I thought Penelope Williams did an excellent job of playing with my (the reader) emotions. It was almost like I was experiencing everything that Clementine was experiencing. When she was sad I was sad. When she was happy I was happy. And just when you think things are going to work out for Clementine something comes along to test her. There were definitely a lot of adventures in the story and it certainly was never boring. It was a wonderful story and I am definitely looking foward to reading more of P. Williams' books. ALso if you liked Kathryn Lynn Davins' Too Deep for Tears then I would highly recommend Heart of the West.