May 2012
TRUE SISTERS by Sandra Dallas looks at the story of how, in 1856, the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, or Mormons) brought converts from Europe to Iowa, where they were fitted with handcarts that they pulled and pushed 1,300 miles to Salt Lake City. The carts were essentially square boxes on two wheels. The four women portrayed in the book were members of the Martin Company, the last group to head out that had 575 people in it when they left. Along the way, they lost one quarter of the group to harsh conditions, including blizzards and deathly cold. While the Donner party is referenced in history as the story of a magnitude of human loss, it is dwarfed by this.
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