Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson | 2015 | Greenwillow Books | Hardcover $17.99
Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more. She also has a secret. Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.
Disclosure statement: I received a digital ARC of this title from the publisher.
I was super excited to get a chance to read this new title from the author of The Girl of Fire & Thorns, which I liked very much.
The first part of the book reminded me strongly of Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee, simply because of the setting and the “girl escapes scary old dude by dressing as a boy and running west with the help of an escaped slave” plot. In fact, if you liked Under a Painted Sky, I can guarantee you’d also like Walk on Earth a Stranger. But it’s not a copycat story – many elements are similar, but I didn’t feel any sense of “I’ve read this story before…” either.
The atmosphere is great. The places described, the mannerisms and actions of the characters, even the thought patterns of the narrator feel like they really do fit in with the pre-Civil War rural South-to-West setting, without being too jolting or confusing for the modern reader. This is something I’ve come to admire in the best historical fiction.
The magic element – Leah’s ability to sense gold – is important to the story but not the entire focus of it. She has this interesting ability that can help her find wealth, but it also puts her in danger from people who want to take advantage of her or people who think she’s some kind of witch. Other than that, though, she’s really just a very tough young woman who has to do the best she can to survive. She’s not a magical girl who can wave a wand and poof out of trouble; she has to face down that trouble as best she can, usually by herself with only her own wits and shooting skills to save her. I like that.
Leah is not perfect. She is a teenager who is still learning about morality, still figuring out her feelings for other people and trying to decide how to act on them. I enjoyed reading about her adventures through her point of view precisely because she’s not perfect and her mistakes and flaws make her story interesting.
I was not particularly interested in the romance, at least at first. I don’t think it was really necessary to have the main character crushing on her best-friend-who-happens-to-be-a-guy, nor was it necessary to add a silly little love triangle on top of that. But in the end it didn’t really turn into the big ball o’ cliché that I feared.
From a genealogist’s point of view, this story was interesting because of its focus on the very real, very dramatic California Gold Rush. The long period of westward migrations in America in the 1800’s resulted in some pretty interesting little mysteries for many modern-day family historians. For example, I’m sure the fictional Joyners’ great-great-great-great-grandchildren would now be wondering what exactly happened to this branch of their family on their journey to the West Coast, with only census, land, and probate records to help them piece the story together.
I’m curious as to the nature of the planned sequels. The last chapter is open-ended enough that there could be one, but satisfyingly final enough that the book can stand on its own.
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Publication information: Carson, Rae. Walk on Earth a Stranger. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2015. EPUB.
Source: Electronic format review copy provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.