These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901: Arizona Territories

I have loved this book since the first time I had read it. I have read it over and over. Nancy Turner does an amazing job telling the story of Sarah Prine and her struggles with family, the land and love. It will leave you desperately wanting to know more.

These Is My Words begins with Sarah Prine's family pulling up stakes and traveling toward a new home in the early 1880s. Deciding to record the events of her life in a diary, Sarah takes us step-by-step through the real tragedies of life on a frontier but also through the triumphs that make life bearable. Sarah is a tough young woman who is a sharpshooter, both with a rifle and her spirit. Young and impressionable, she finds out that people and events are not always what they seem and she makes plenty of mistakes along the way. The love story between she and Captain Jack Elliott is one of the best I've ever read; you can feel the love between the two jump off the page and grab you around your own heart. Finding a stopping place in this wonderful book is next to impossible and to say that your soul will become involved is to state the obvious. Sarah and her stories will live a very long time within me. This is historical fiction at its absolute best. Highly, highly recommended.

Like many other reviewers, I read this book in a few sittings, staying up until the wee hours of the morning, and neglecting my husband and kids (except for reading parts to my 7-yr. old daughter), because I was so involved in Sarah's life. I read it on the treadmill, in the car, making dinner, at work...just couldn't put it down. I love how the story starts, with Sarah's "quaintly uneducated" narrative, watching her prose progress to the likes of a great teacher. I loved all the main characters, especially Jack, Sarah, and Savannah and feel as though I've learned much about life from them. Pioneer women are truly heroes, and I want to know more about them and their incredible experiences. My eyes have red rings around them today as I totally lost it at the end. I had water coming from every hole in my head and snuck to the bathroom before my husband could see me and make fun of me. I've even begun to cry numerous times just reading these reviews. Jack wasn't perfect but his love and devotion to Sarah and the kids was amazing. I hated the irony of what finally happened to him and was hoping he would stay. The romantic parts of the book were tastefully done, yet I couldn't get enough of those either. I just didn't want it all to end and will reread it immediately, savoring it this time and picking up things I missed before.Ms. Turner: Thank you for such a riveting work. Please do a sequel! I kept thinking and hoping that Sarah would end up a Professor of Latin at the new University in Tucson. (It was also baffling to me that Sarah didn't explode in anger that her husband opened her test grade, presenting the paper to her as a gift, for her birthday) She's only what, 38 when the story ends, so there's so much left for her to do and share about herself and family! Sam Elliott and Sissy Spacek would have been good for the movie 20 years ago. Now, it's questionable who could carry these characters, but please bring this story to life! Movies are NEVER as good as the books they portray, but bringing this beautiful story to the big screen, even if the movie's not altogether worthy, would be better than nothing at all!

As I read other customer's reviews, I agree that Sarah is an attractive heroine--we can't help but be drawn to her character. Yet for me the highlight of the novel is the character of Captain Jack Elliot. I found my heart beating so fast each time he was mentioned in one of Sarah's journal entries, just as if I had fallen in love with him myself! Comparisons of Jack and Sarah to Rhett and Scarlett are very shallow; this pair beats the Gone With the Wind couple hands down! Oh where are the Jack Elliot's of our day? If only we had more men like him, men whose love is pure and selfless, who love their mates with everything that is within them, and then some! Nancy Turner, you have swept me away with your beautiful protrayal of Jack and Sarah. Thanks for such a thrilling, all-consuming novel, and for the opportunity to "live" the lives of these characters and times which are, just like the civil war days, gone with the wind. Your book has helped me to appreciate the part of the world I live in, and to see it with new eyes. I had the opportunity to fly over Cienega Creek in a small private airplane just a few days ago, and it was thrilling, to say the least, to look down upon the area where Sarah and Jack and their family lived out (fictionally) their eventful, full lives. For those of you who have not read this book, don't wait any longer to pick it up! You will absolutely love it!

This is a book that I would never have picked out on my own but I'm so thankful that it was recommended to me by a poster on one of the book boards. Just the cover alone makes the purchase worthwhile. I especially liked the way Nancy Turner wrote this book in the form of a diary which is written over the course of 20 years. The two main characters, Sarah Prine and Captain Jack Elliott, are larger than life. She's smart, great with a gun and stubborn. He's ornery, romantic and loves her more than life itself. What a match and what a book. I recently recommended this to my book group and they've been raving about it ever since. My only disappointment is that I had to finish it.

I work casual hours in a bookstore and my manager picked up These Is My Words to let me know that it was on the New Releases list. The title had me at once. I bought it immediately. Never have I felt so as one with a novel. Reading Sarah's entries, I too fought those Indians, felt the hurt with the loss of loved ones and loved Jack. On more than one occaison, I found myself in the most absurd places reading this story, (one morning for an hour sitting on the edge of the bath tub). I have been waiting for a book like this my whole life and now that I have found it, I doubt anything can replace it. Nancy Turner's characters are vivid, believable, real. They grow through the course of the novel to become your friends, family and loved ones. I have never cried, laughed and siged with relief so many times through one book. I just hope that this treasure stays safe within yellowing pages and bypasses the big screen.Truly amazing, an adventure everyone should have. Thank-you so much Nancy Turner!