Margaret Bell (1)

Mary Clearman Blew writes a most informative intro to this book and its publication history. I found Bell's story after reading Blew's own Montana memoir, All But the Waltz, which I enjoyed immensely. Bell, who was born at the end of the nineteenth century, tells the story of a childhood filled with hardship, heartbreak and abuse. Her own father left when she was very small. Her stepfather, a real nogoodnik, hardly fills that void. He is abusive to Bell, her mother and her stepsisters from the minute he enters the picture. Her mother, literally worked to death, died in her twenties, leaving young Peggy to look after the three younger girls. Beatings and hunger become "ordinary" to Peggy. When Hedge, her stepfather, begins to sexually molest her, she is so innocent that she has no words to describe what is happening, and simply endures it. In her teens, she finally ends up in a convent school in Washington state, where she tries to stay and become a nun, but her health is too poor, so she returns to ranch life with her kind uncle and her grandmother. Always handy with horses and cattle, she regains her health and begins to thrive. This is never a happy story, but it is an important one, and a richly detailed addition to the role and contributions of women on the western frontier of our country. I salute the late Margaret Bell and I thank Mary Clearman Blew for finally bringing us Bell's story. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in the field of women's studies. Hell, I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants to read a good story.… (mehr)