A Review of ANSWER CREEK by Ashley E. Sweeney

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ANSWER CREEK by Ashley E. Sweeney will be released on May 19th 2020 by She Writes Press.

 Cannibalism…

 It is the first thing that nearly everyone thinks about when they hear about the ill-fated Donner Party who got trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the winter of 1846-1847 while traveling overland on the Oregon-California Trail. Had the Donner Party just stuck to the established route, they probably would have reached California without mishap—aside from the usual misfortunes that plagued wagon trains traveling west. Instead, the Donner Party opted to take the Hastings Cutoff. They believed that the shortcut would cut miles and time off the journey. Instead, the shortcut did the opposite—and the eighty or so people found themselves trapped on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains as winter quickly set in. Without food or supplies, the Donner party faced starvation and many perished. Allegedly, some of the party resorted to cannibalism to stay alive while they waited for rescue.

 Ashley E. Sweeney takes the true story of the Donner Party—or as true of a record as has been able to be established—and bases the fictional story of Ada Weeks around it. Ada and her adopted parents decided to travel to California along with the Donner Party. After her parents die during a river crossing, Ada joins the Breen family for the rest of the journey. The first section of the novel follows Ada and the rest of the Donner Party as they travel west. The second part of the novel covers the time that the party is trapped in the mountains as well as Ada’s rescue. And the third section of the novel covers a period of time where Ada lives along Answer Creek and begins to establish a home and a life for herself in California.

 ANSWER CREEK is a gritty and bleak novel. While there are scenes of happiness, the novel mostly centers around courage, overcoming hardships, and survival. Ada is a bit rough around the edges, but it is her roughness that helps her survive. ANSWER CREEK was very well written and thoroughly researched. I enjoyed the novel, but there were times when I found that the plot was moving a little too slowly. Also, the final chapter threw me for a loop. Since the entire novel is from Ada’s perspective, I was not expecting a chapter from her ancestor’s present day perspective. While it helped wrap up Ada’s story, it just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the novel.

 Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.