Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton
(March 2010)
Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.
Here’s the blurb from the publisher:
In the spring of 1846, Tamsen Donner, her husband, George, their five daughters, and eighty other pioneers headed to California on the California-Oregon Trail in eager anticipation of new lives out West. Everything that could go wrong did, and an American legend was born.
The Donner Party. We think we know their story—pioneers trapped in the mountains performing an unspeakable act to survive—but we know only that one harrowing part of it. Impatient with Desire brings us answers to the unanswerable question: What really happened in the four months the Donners were trapped in the mountains? And it brings to stunning life a woman—and a love story—behind the myth.
Tamsen Eustis Donner, born in 1801, taught school, wrote poetry, painted, botanized, and was fluent in French. At twenty-three, she sailed alone from Massachusetts to North Carolina when respectable women didn’t travel alone. Years after losing her first husband, Tully, she married again for love, this time to George Donner, a prosperous farmer, and in 1846, they set out for California with their five youngest children. Unlike many women who embarked reluctantly on the Oregon Trail, Tamsen was eager to go. Later, trapped in the mountains by early snows, she had plenty of time to contemplate the wisdom of her decision and the cost of her wanderlust.
Historians have long known that Tamsen kept a journal, though it was never found. In Impatient with Desire, Burton draws on years of historical research to vividly imagine this lost journal—and paints a picture of a remarkable heroine in an extraordinary situation. Tamsen’s unforgettable journey takes us from the cornfields of Illinois to the dusty Oregon Trail to the freezing Sierra Nevada Mountains, where she was forced to confront an impossible choice.
Impatient with Desire is a passionate, heart-wrenching story of courage, hope, and love in hardship, all told at a breathless pace. Intimate in tone and epic in scope, Impatient with Desire is absolutely hypnotic.
I am so excited about this one!! I received it from Library Thing which is thrilling because I was offered a book by them months ago, it never came, and even though I told them this, and they promised not to blacklist me, I think they did. This means that I am no longer questionable. I think.
Anyway, doesn’t this look good? And you can’t really see it here but this cover is soooo lovely. That leaf pattern is sort of like a watermark. So subtle, yet so beautiful.
Book Chatter 
I have this one coming from librarything as well. Looking forward to your review.
The cover is gorgeous! I don’t remember seeing this on LT, although we usually ask for the nonfiction entries….
Ti: I’m reading this right now – I got my copy through LT ER, too. It’s very powerful. It can be hard to read because so many children are involved but, on the other hand, many of them did survive. It makes me want to learn more about their whole ordeal.
That cover makes me want to pick it up! Wonderful premise too!
Here is my Friday Find: The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki.
It looks and sounds good, but what a title!
I know! It sounds like a bodice ripper.
Lucky you! I think this sounds great!
The cover is beautiful, but the plot grosses me out! Hope you enjoy. 🙂 My find is at The Crowded Leaf.
The cover is gorgeous and the book sounds so interesting.
That is exciting! 🙂 I’m not a fan of Westerns in general, and this one sounds too sad for me, but I hope that you enjoy it!
Yeah, my heart went “ooooh” when I heard about it. My only reservation would be that this is still basically guesswork on what really happened. Too bad that journal was never found!
That really looks interesting! I’ve always been sort of fascinated and repelled at the same time by the Donner party. I’ll have to put this one on my list!
This sounds like a good one Ti!!! Thanks
That will be a fantastic read I’m sure. And what a cover. When I saw it i thought it was for the Cover Attraction meme. I can’t wait to hear what you think-enjoy.
By the way, I have quite a bit of experience with LT’s Early Reviewer program. You were never questionable. They would not penalize you over a book not received. They know the publishers sometimes don’t get books sent to every name they give them. I’ve had three that never showed up- back when there was no place to record that it never came. Books kept coming. You can now mark that you didn’t get it and they believe you. And it’s the computer than does the choosing-based on your own library, areas of interest etc. Receiving several books and not reviewing them may get you into hot water but nothing else will. No worries.
Thank you for the info. If I get a book from them I always review it so I felt bad when that one did not show up.
I saw this book on another blog today and thought it sounded awesome. Can’t wait to see what you think of it.
For some reason I thought that the Donner party referred to events in Alaska. Shows how ill-informed I am; this book is definitely going on my to-read list.
Dear Ti,
Surfing the web, I found Book Chatter and you. I’m so pleased you’re going to review my novel, Impatient with Desire. I hope it resonates with you. I notice that some of your readers commented on the name. When Tamsen Donner was 23, she sailed on a great sailing ship from MA to NC at a time when women didn’t travel alone. Mid trip she wrote her sister, “My heart is big with hope and impatient with desire.”
All best,
G.B.
Thank you for stopping by my blog. I cannot wait to read your book and the information you posted about the title makes me want to get to it right now! Ti