These is my Words will stick in your heart and your mind for years. I read this book the first time in 1999 and have read it 3 times since. Unforgettable is a word used in many reviews of this work of fiction. You will soon forget it's fiction when you get caught up in the adventure and the drama.


Tales are spun and lost worlds come to life, while details of daily life and portraits of pioneer families are detailed in action packed chapters that you never want to end.

Sarah Prine comes to us at a very young age...full of life and curiosity. She has hopes and dreams like every girl, but this little girl must grow up fast and hard. Her life spins like a dust bowl storm taking her to far regions and back to her roots.


I always find it hard to imagine the daily work a pioneer woman faced. The cooking and cleaning and farming and then they usually had to do it while pregnant. We share daily life with a woman who struggles with work and home life, love and responsibility and gripping loss almost to much to bear.

I gave this book to my Sister for her birthday and she was in tears when she called to thank me. I thought something was wrong...but she was at the end of the book and it is a 3 or 4 hanky read. My sister and I are both very much into Genealogy and some of our roots are deep in Arizona. This book hits home as we know many of the areas that Sarah Prine lived or travel through.

The diary begins with the ramblings of a girl and it is apparent she is not well educated. You may not notice until the very end of the book, but the writing becomes less "hick" and more adult and articulated as the days pass by.

It's and easy and fast read. Not complicated but never dull. It's romantic and heartbreaking and full of memorable happy moments. Babies are born and family members pass on. Crosses mark the side of long lost dusty trails in Texas and a hill south of Tucson under the Jacaranda Tree.

The dust and grit in your teeth and eyes can be felt and the dry parched earth can be seen. You will taste the mouthwatering pies cooling in the window and warm tomatoes bursting on the vine. You will thank your lucky stars you have a washer and dryer every time Sarah must wash more baby diapers.

This book should be on your gift giving list this year. If you haven't read it yet...get it soon. I think I'll keep it out and give it another read by the fire this winter. Oh...and save room for the Apple Pie.