The characters are enthraling, and the setting is immersive. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about two sisters growing up and growing apart. ( )

Set in Oklahoma in the early 1900s, Prairie Fever tells the story of three people: Gus McQueen, a young man with a talent for memorization who is sent to Oklahoma to teach at a small one-room schoolhouse; and Lorena and Elise Stewart, two very different inseparable sisters who are two of his students. Lorena is practical, steady and determined, whereas Elise is flighty, imaginative and, as some say, a bit “touched”. Gus McQueen will come between the two of them.

In an easy, charming and seductive prose Parker transports us to the prairie of a hundred years ago and tells a big-hearted story about love, family and passion. Once started, the book is hard to put down, and it’s the perfect read for the beach or a rainy day…(or in my case, hiding from the heat and humidity outside and the housework inside). ( )