The Fire and the Ore is yet another book by Olivia Hawker that teaches me more American history than I ever learned in school， and keeps me interested every step of the way。The book covers a painful era of wagon and handcart trains of Mormon pioneers heading west to the Great Salt Lake， something I’d never read about before in or out of school。 Between their shabby treatment by the US government （some of it deserved）， the occasional ineptitude of their leaders， the belief that faith would sustai The Fire and the Ore is yet another book by Olivia Hawker that teaches me more American history than I ever learned in school， and keeps me interested every step of the way。The book covers a painful era of wagon and handcart trains of Mormon pioneers heading west to the Great Salt Lake， something I’d never read about before in or out of school。 Between their shabby treatment by the US government （some of it deserved）， the occasional ineptitude of their leaders， the belief that faith would sustain them， no matter the hardship， and something as simple—and lethal—as weather， it’s a wonder any of them ever made it to Utah。 This makes the Donner party sound like a picnic 。From the first pages， the reader is dropped into the very disparate lives of three women: Tamar， a young， well-born Londoner whose father’s enthusiastic faith brought the family across the ocean; Jane， a teenage girl caring for her younger sister， and facing one disaster after another; and Tabitha， a healer and the wife of prominent Mormon Thomas Ricks。How these three deal with the hardships of life on the trail and further difficulties brought upon them by weather， politics， men， and their own faith， is the structure of this novel， but the heart of it is family –the kind you are born to， the kind you choose， or the kind you come to against your will。 This was a fascinating， well-written historical novel， of the sort I expect from this author， whose books I will buy no matter the subject。I received an advance copy of this book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review。 。。。more