Beneath the Same Stars

A Novel of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War

By: Phyllis Cole-Dai

Narrated by: Elena Marino

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

A war you might never have heard of. A story you'll never forget.

August 18, 1862: On the Sioux reservation in southwestern Minnesota, Indians desperate for food and freedom rise up against whites in the region. Sarah Wakefield, the wife of a physician, is taken captive with her two babies. Their fate falls into the hands of the warrior Ćaske. As war rages, little does she know how entwined their lives will become.

Beneath the Same Stars is the gripping story of two people, caught between worlds, who are willing to do almost anything to defend those they care about - including each other. But the drama is bigger than themselves. Tragic forces have been set in motion....

Inspired by actual events surrounding the US-Dakota War.

Will Sarah and Ćaske survive? Buy the audiobook and start listening today!

About the author: Phyllis Cole-Dai has authored or edited nine books in multiple genres. Visit www.phylliscoledai.com to get your free sampler of her work.

©2018 Phyllis Cole-Dai (P)2019 Phyllis Cole-Dai

Fascinating History

Author, Cole-Dai did an excellent job of walking the listener through the every day life of Sarah Wakefield in the 1860's, from moving a young family to Minnesota, to her time as a captive in the U.S.-Dakota War. Her attention to detail really brought that period of time, the lives and beliefs of the native Americans and a little known part of American history to life. For all history lovers, a recommended title. I only wish the narrator had given the story time to breathe in her narration. I did receive the audiobook gratis for the review.

Moral Imagination

This is a finely written book of moral imagination, the story of a woman and a man, on the wrong side of history to each other, during our country's conquering of the Sioux even as the Civil War was in progress. It's a hard struggle to claim universal goodness as forces are waging to divide one from the other, but an American woman and a Sioux warrior struggle "to repair the world." This audiobook was provided free of charge.

Historical Fiction at its Best

“Beneath the Same Stars” brought history alive for me especially as an audio book. Author Phyllis Cole-Dai uses poetic language and deep descriptions of time and place to immerse the listener in events of 1862-63 leading up to and including the Sioux Uprising in southwestern Minnesota.

The reader, Elena Marino did an outstanding job pronouncing names and dialogue in the Dakota language offering insight into native culture. Additionally Marino’s skill in speaking Irish and Scottish dialects of the immigrants added to the color of the book, putting us right in the middle of the action.

The book centers on the true story of Sarah Wakefield, the wife of a reservation physician. Through her we learn about emerging pioneer life, as well as tribal life of “Blanket Indians” and “Farmer Indians” all competing to survive on the same land.

Cole-Dai’s extensive research and creative presentation closely follow the history of tensions, and misunderstandings that led to the Sioux Uprising. I have a deeper grasp of how two cultures clashed, yet felt empathy for both sides as I listened.

I think this book should be required reading in schools. “Beneath the Same Stars” has vital lessons for us today about the importance and patience required in communication and tolerance in today’s culture of diversity.

I am grateful to have received a complimentary copy of this audio book.

History Unjustly Forgotten

I spotted this book in the latest issue of the Historical Novels Review and was delighted that it has an audiobook. The narrator does a great job. If I'm honest, I didn't care for a couple aspects of how the story was told. Present tense has always sounded pretentious to me, and I didn't like the way flashbacks kept being dropped in. I would have preferred to hear Sarah's story chronologically. But these are matters of personal taste, and this is such important, forgotten history that I still recommend this book. I appreciated the Author's Note at the end. I love the cover too: a beautiful color palette and I recognize the historic photograph used for the man. :)

Beneath the same stars

This was an excellent book!A white woman and her children are dumped in an Indian territory when her husband gets a job there as a doctor.She makes a home and befriends the Indians. When things go wrong with food and money promised to the Indians, she gets swept up in the tradgedy of uprisings on both sides.This is a beautiful story of a womans life in a very turbulent time. Ellena Marino was a wonderful narrator. was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.' 

powerful!! well researched and beautifully written

I loved reading this author and meeting memorable, well developed characters in this still timely historical fiction novel based on a real happening, and a real woman, Sarah Wakefield.
Her experience during the US war in 1862 with the Dakotas is a story not to be missed. It is shameful that so much wrong was done, resulting in an unfathomable number of lives lost, and the unbelievable horror by American hands causing the decimation of our Native populations. It is heart rending and unthinkable: in the past and currently. This story causes one to think about tolerance and compassion so wanting in today's society. Sarah is inspiring and a woman you will never forget.
Do read this book.

Couldn't listen

This might be a good story but I'll never know. The narrator ruined it within minutes. Sounded as if she were reading to 6 year olds with over-dramatization and goofy voices. Just couldn't listen!

Woman married four times “suffers” for six weeks

Did I mention she abandons two set of children? Lame story and sad that researchers gravitate to her scraps as history.