Answer Creek tells the story of Ada Weeks, a fictional 19-year-old adopted daughter of an undertaker and his wife, who treks across the United States with the fated (and real) Donner Party. If you know anything about the Donner Party, you have a good overview of what happens in this book, although it goes on to also include what happens after the survivors arrive in California. (And if you’re not familiar with the story, a quick skim on Wikipedia will come in handy.) Based on my own reading about the Donner Party, this author seemed to follow closely to what historians believe is the actual story of what happened, outside of inventing Ada’s character to center the story around.
This book reminded me of some of Sandra Dallas’s books — one of my favorite authors — although it went into a bit more detail. I really liked the character of Ada and how she grew and developed as we got further along in the story. And I think the author did a good job weaving together fact and fiction and bringing the characters to life in a way that history books just don’t.
I also really appreciated that the author created Ada as a fully fictional character. So much has been published about the Donner Party, that you know going into this book who survives and who doesn’t, so not knowing what was going to happen to Ada pulled me in and kept me reading to the end.
My biggest complaint was the last chapter of the book. Without giving anything away, I would have preferred some sort of epilogue instead of jumping ahead in time to neatly wrap up the characters. It didn’t feel like a good fit with the tone and rhythm of the rest of the book. But, overall, this was a book I recommend.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and She Writes Press in exchange for my honest opinion. It did not influence my review.