Bess: A Woman's Life in the Early 1900s
Bess is Carol McManus' second historical novel. As with Ida, Carol's award-winning and best-selling first novel, Bess is based on the author's close observations of pioneer women living and working in western Colorado during the first part of the twentieth century. Life in those days was filled with determined women who tried to make a better life for themselves and their families. As opposed to their Victorian counterparts, who were for the most part resigned to their stations in life, the women of Bess' time began to develop a sense that they and their children could become successful if only they were willing to work hard enough.
- Published
- 2004
- ISBN
- 1-932738-01-0
- Pages
- 253
- Category
- History
- Place
- Colorado
- Publisher
- Western Reflections Publishing Co.
- Listed at
- $20.45
Publication details from Open Library. The price shown is the last one on record and is historic, not a current offer. Cover image courtesy of Open Library.
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About this book
Bess: A Woman's Life in the Early 1900s is a historical novel set in western Colorado. Goodreads describes Bess as an orphan raised by a strict aunt and uncle who is determined to get the education her dying mother wanted for her. She and her husband then face harsh winters and summer droughts while raising sheep in cattle-controlled country.
Carol Crawford McManus calls it her second historical novel, after Ida. Like Ida, it rests on her close observation of pioneer women who lived and worked in western Colorado in the first part of the twentieth century. Our description says these women began to feel that they and their children could succeed if they worked hard enough.
The catalogue lists the subjects as women pioneers, frontier and pioneer life, and historical fiction set in Colorado. Both the catalogue and Goodreads give 2004 as the first publication date and 253 pages.
Who it is for
This is a novel for readers of Colorado pioneer history, and especially for those interested in the daily work of ranching women in the early twentieth century. It is fiction drawn from observation, not a biography.
Ways to use this book
Reading it with a book group
Pair the novel with the oral history project. After each section, ask where fiction and the interviews with working ranch women touch, and where the years between them show. Keep the notes for discussion.
Collecting a family story
If a grandmother or great aunt ranched on the Western Slope, write down what she remembers before it is lost, then ask the Mesa archives about donating copies. Their page says appointments are preferred.
Go deeper
Bess follows a woman who ranches sheep in western Colorado, so the best companions are about real women, work and land of that region. These pages give history, a living oral history project and a local archive.
Women in Early Colorado, Colorado Encyclopedia
An article saying women's labor was often vital to a family's economic survival, with butter, eggs and garden produce supplying much farm income in the counties one historian studied.
Taking Stock: Ranching Women of Colorado
A Colorado Mesa University oral history project in which a team interviewed 12 women involved in ranching across western Colorado, supported by a Library of Congress Archie Green Fellowship grant.
Archives and Special Collections, Colorado Mesa University
Describes holdings on the history of western Colorado, with manuscripts, digital content and rare books. Appointments are preferred.
Good to know
Is Bess a true story?
Is it a sequel to Ida?
What is the period?
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