Sandra Dallas, The Diary of Mattie Spenser
My name is Mattie Faye McCauley Spenser. I am twenty-two years old, and this is my book. It was given to me on Sunday last by Carrie Collier Fritch on the occasion of my marriage to Luke McCamie Spenser. Carrie says I am to use it to record my joys and sorrows, and to keep a thorough record of our wedding trip overland to Colorado Territory and the events in the life of an old married woman. Then I’m to send it back to her.
Well, maybe I will, and maybe I won’t.
The Diary of Mattie Spenser is a fiction, presented in the form of a journal and accounting for three years in the life of a woman (from 1865 to 1869), who leaves family and friends and the small Iowa town where she grew up, to follow her husband in the wild plains of Colorado Territory. The diary is discovered many decades later, by a neighbor of Hazel Dunn, Mattie Spenser’s grand-daughter, in the hidden compartment of the top of a truck It can be read only with great efforts, as the writing is crosshatched:
she wrote on the page in the usual way. Then, she turned the book sideways and wrote across the original writing. people did that back then so they could double the number of words they put on a page.
However, she decides to decipher it, to make a clear copy with the help of a computer and to present it as a gift to Mattie’s grand-daughter. She spends hours uncovering the fascinating story told by the old diary: Mattie’s husband is Luke Spenser, considered as the best catch in town, being handsome as well as brave for having fought in the war against the South. So, when Mattie (who thinks of herself as plain and thinks she will remain a spinster) is proposed, she does not try to question the motivations hidden beneath this unexpected proposal; she accepts both marriage and the difficult life Luke offers her.
In a voice that really gives the impression of a true testimony, the narrator, Mattie Spenser, tells her journey in a covered wagon, her settlement in a sod house on the frontier; the harsh climate, the isolation, lack of comfort, lurking dangers as well as the joys, disappointments and hardships of domestic life. Beside the greatest threat represented by the Indians, Mattie Spenser has a more private battle to lead: with few knowledge on marital matters, she tries to get closer to a husband who, though never mean, remains distant. She also has to bear the difficulties of pregnancies far from civilization, and to deal with numerous deaths among her acquaintances. But her more difficult trial is maybe her discovery of the truth behind her husband’s behavior, that she will finally learn in the most tragic of circumstances.
The Diary of Mattie Spenser is a thoroughly documented historic account of the life of pioneer women in the nineteenth century, as well as the eventful and suspenseful story of a particular woman, who writes a journal because she has no close friend to confide in:
I am aware in rereading my journal that I write too much. Luke would think so, too. One evening whilst talking of enjoyable pursuits, I said many thought a diary was a pleasant pastime, as well as an efficient way to remember events of note. Luke said if one had to write down such happenings, they weren’t worth remembering, and that diary keeping, like writing poetry, used up time that might be put to better use. So now I know I was right in keeping this little book from him. I don’t agree with Husband, of course. I think a journal causes one to reexamine the events of one’s life and find ways to improve oneself.
This journal follows Mattie’s progression, from a naive young girl full of illusions to a mature woman who has overcome prejudices, learned that rules don’t always apply outside civilization and also managed to find her place and a sense of belonging, after many doubts and personal battles.
Rating: 3,5/5
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I’ve always been fascinated by old diaries and journals and
letters that have been stored away in some dusty attic. I loved “Letters of a Woman Homesteader” and “The Diary of a Mid-Wife” and “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written
by Herself” and “The Wedding Dress” and “Nothing To Do But
Stay” just to name a few of the works about women and their
lonely lives on the Plains. I guess I’m drawn to them ’cause I’m from the Great Plains and heard all my life
about the settlers and their hardships. The fact that The
Diary of Mattie Spenser is based on true events, and that
the author did her homework by researching life in that
era and in that place is good enough reason for me to want
to read the rest of Sandra Dallas’s series.