The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

I enjoyed it, and would happily read Benjamin’s work in the future. The reader does a nice job of incorporating a Scandinavian accent without overdoing it, and it makes it easier to relate to the characters. I recommend The Children’s Blizzard to those that enjoy historical fiction, and I especially recommend the audio book to you. Friends, if you ever find yourself feeling starry-eyed about the distant past, wishing things were simpler and done as they were long ago, this book will snap you out of it quickly. Instead, the story is primarily about the aftermath, the way that these Scandinavian settlers respond to what has occurred, and the role of the ambitious reporter that covers the tragedy.īenjamin does a fine job developing the characters, primarily the women involved, and I especially appreciate her unsentimental approach. While the deaths are indeed sad, she doesn’t draw them out gratuitously-and not everybody dies. The thing that makes the difference is that the blizzard is done before the story is even halfway over! I had envisioned slow, agonizing deaths that would take up the whole novel, and that isn’t what Benjamin does at all. And my friends were right this is a good story.

Then I saw that my online friends had liked it, and so with a deep breath, I pulled out my review copy, turned on the audio copy and began. Here we were, in the midst of this miserable, frightening pandemic, and for the first time ever, I wasn’t able to host my family for Christmas I couldn’t see my grown children or tiny grandchildren in person…and I was going to read a book where small children froze to death in the snow? What exactly had I been thinking of, to request such a book? And so I shuffled it onto the back burner. The story is set mostly in and around “Godforsaken Omaha,” and I seldom see fiction set in Nebraska, so that is also interesting.īut once I had the book, I had second thoughts. Despite the whopping length, theres not a wasted word in this superb, swiftly moving narrative, which brings new and overdue honor to a Founding Father. I have a history degree and have taught American history, but I’d never heard of the Children’s Blizzard, which was real. I wanted to read this novel because it is different from everything else in my queue.

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin