REVIEW – Caroline: Little House Revisted

Sarah Miller’s Caroline: Little House Revisited is the story we all wanted to read when we first picked up Little House on the Prairie so many years ago.  This tale is told through the gritty, mature, and feminine voice of Ma, Caroline Ingalls. Caroline and her young children, Mary and Laura, and her charming, risk-taker husband, Charles, journey in a rickety covered wagon from their haven in the big woods of Wisconsin to the unpredictable Indian Territory in Kansas with the dream to start a homestead.

Once the Ingalls family crosses the Mississippi River they must rely on their own wits and survival skills to prosper on the desolate prairie. As you can imagine, the Ingallses face many challenges during their travels out West, and they encounter even more obstacles once they break ground in Kansas. We witness the harrowing and at times rewarding experiences of the Ingalls family through the refreshingly honest perspective of our heroine, Caroline. Reading this novel will make you want to dig out your dogeared copy of the original Little House series to capture more glimpses of this complex character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the sincere voice with which it was told. Although I have not traveled across an unknown land in a covered wagon (yet!) I found Caroline and her experiences, as a woman and mother, very relatable. As I was reading, I became very aware and impressed by the enormous amount of research that the author must have undergone to create Caroline’s world and story. Miller’s Caroline is certainly a must read for fans of the Little House series but also for those interested in historical fiction with gumption.

– Jamie L’Italien