Eliza Waite

April 15, 2016
After a smallpox epidemic devastates the population of her home in the San Juan Islands, claiming the lives of her husband and young son, Eliza resigns herself to remaining there to grieve. Living alone on the all-but-deserted island, Eliza falls into a routine. She chops wood, harvests vegetables, cans fruits, and finds pleasure in baking and reading literature from the stirring women's suffrage movement out East. But after years alone in isolation, a series of events leads her to a life-changing decision: she will travel north to Alaska, along with all the gold-seeking miners, prostitutes, and vagabonds, in the hope of opening her own bakery and starting a new life. After arriving in Alaska, Eliza's world changes quickly. Raised to be a proper, quiet lady, she soon discovers her voice and dreams and desires she never thought possible. Sweeney's debut novel is a beautifully written work of historical fiction tracing one woman's life in the wilds of nineteenth-century America. Readers will be immersed in Eliza's world, which Sweeney has so authentically and skillfully rendered.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)