The Vengeance of Mothers

The Journals of Margaret Kelly & Molly McGill: A Novel

By: Jim Fergus

Narrated by: Laura Hicks, Erik Steele

Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

"[Narrator Laura Hicks] captures the compelling emotions of these desperate women as they escape their former lives of hardship and dare to dream of a freedom they haven't yet known." (Booklist, starred review)

The stunning sequel to Jim Fergus' award-winning One Thousand White Women.

9 March 1876
My name is Meggie Kelly and I take up this pencil with my twin sister, Susie. We have nothing left, less than nothing. The village of our People has been destroyed, all our possessions burned, our friends butchered by the soldiers, our baby daughters gone, frozen to death on an ungodly trek across these rocky mountains. Empty of human feeling, half-dead ourselves, all that remains of us intact are hearts turned to stone. We curse the US government, we curse the Army, we curse the savagery of mankind, white and Indian alike. We curse God in his heaven. Do not underestimate the power of a mother’s vengeance....

So begins the journal of Margaret Kelly, a woman who participated in the government's "Brides for Indians" program in 1873, a program whose conceit was that the way to peace between the United States and the Cheyenne Nation was for One Thousand White Women to be given as brides in exchange for 300 horses. These "brides" were mostly fallen women; women in prison, prostitutes, the occasional adventurer, or those incarcerated in asylums. No one expected this program to work. The brides themselves thought it was simply a chance at freedom. But many of them fell in love with the Cheyenne spouses and had children with them...and became Cheyenne themselves.

The Vengeance of Mothers is an audiobook that explores what happens to the bonds between wives and husbands, children and mothers, when society sees them as "unspeakable." What does it mean to be white, to be Cheyenne, and how far will these women go to avenge the ones they love? As he did in One Thousand White Women, Jim Fergus brings to light a time and place in American history, and fills it with unforgettable characters who live and breathe with a passion we can relate to even today.

©2017 Jim Fergus (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"[Narrator Laura Hicks] captures the compelling emotions of these desperate women as they escape their former lives of hardship and dare to dream of a freedom they haven't yet known." (Booklist)

good story

I enjoyed this second book in this series although it was different in the way the stories were told. This developing story and characters are fun and relatable in happy and sad times.

FASCINATING

Loved this book and the descriptions of a simpler time and world. Jim Fergus knows how to tell a story. Sad to reach the end, if you love historical fiction highly recommend.

What a story!!

I couldn’t wait to listen to this audiobook! Much like the first book, One Thousand White Women, I was pulled in and took every opportunity to listen to this intriguing tale! I sure hope there’s another book in this series!
The narrator was the same as the first book, which really helps when some of the same characters are in the book! She was just as brilliant this time around!
I must warn that there is the same cussing and more vulgar sexual content.

Very interesting.

This states a part of history that has only been rumored. There’s a lot to learn from this.

A truer history of the USA!

This is a story you may never forget and likely to be a history closer to the truth than anything you learned from a high school curriculum. If ever I am asked why I lack any hint of patriotism towards the country in which I live, I will simply recommend this book along with 1000 White Women by the same author. Jim Fergus writes with a refreshingly realistic view of the often white-washed history of the USA. This story captures a time that many Americans wish had ended differently than it did. I for one have always been one to wish for victory to go to the underdogs and I do so in this story too. To bad history is so sad in reality!

Just great!

Haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long while. Second in a series. Can't wait to read the last of the series.

Satisfying sequel!

I am sometimes reticent about sequels. This was a very satisfying continuation of a book long on my personal recommendations list.

great sequel!!

a very good sequel to 1000 White Women!! in some ways it is even better than the first!! highly recommend!!

Gripping

It was exciting to hear each woman’s story. I felt a part of the book and I couldn’t stop listening because I had a desire to know what was going to happen next. Amazing story!

Excellent

These books were recommended to me. Can’t wait to read the final installment. Love the history and descriptions of Native American life.