The Daughter's Walk

To walk 3,500 miles across the country from Spokane, Washington, to New York City for $10,000 in 1896 is quite a feat. Just to pay debts? Or is there an alternative motivation? Kimberly Farr narrates the adventures of 19-year-old Clara Estby and her Swedish mother, Helga, as mother and daughter make their way from town to town. Farr's performance is flat--she barely varies her inflections even as the two women begin to develop stronger identities and a sense of independence in the face of their journey. As Clara tells the story, the listener is treated to her stern late-nineteenth-century attitudes and values. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 28, 2011
Nineteen-year-old Clara Estby is hauled by her mother, Helga, on a 7,000-mile walk from Spokane, Wash., to New York in 1896. The fashion industry is looking for promotion of the new, shorter dress for women; Helga is looking for a $10,000 prize to save the family farm from foreclosure. The historically factual walk is only the first half of the book; the rest follows Clara after she leaves her family, becomes a businesswoman, and makes her way as times change for women at the turn of the century. Kirkpatrick has done impeccable homework, and what she recreates and what she imagines are wonderfully seamless. Readers see the times, the motives, the relationships that produce a chain of decisions and actions, all rendered with understatement. Kirkpatrick is a master at using fiction to illuminate history's truths. This beautiful and compelling work of historical fiction deserves the widest possible audience.