BUFFALO FLATS

A young woman comes of age in an 1890s Canadian settlement of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Rebecca Leavitt is determined to own a piece of land. She knows the ideal spot: It has a perfect place to sit, look over Buffalo Flats, and appreciate the Rocky Mountains rising in the west. Unfortunately, only men can homestead and acquire land, but if she can raise $480, her father could purchase the land and make out the deed in her name. Over the course of a year, Rebecca works tirelessly, trying to raise the money she needs while managing the realities of life in a community that moved to Canada from Utah. In this character-driven novel, Rebecca is a funny, focused, and believable young woman who battles internally over right and wrong, especially when it comes to dealing with romantic feelings and appreciating people who are hard to get along with. The author mines her own family history to create a tale in which the landscape is viscerally described in its tempestuous beauty, and situations such as stepping in as midwife, rescuing a neighbor from an abusive husband, and dealing with life-threatening flooding give a sense of the daily struggles. Everyone is assumed White; though there is discussion of the buffalo and elk affected by settlement, only glancing mention is made of Indigenous inhabitants.

Immersive historical fiction.