- Title: Montana Matrimonial News
- Author: Candace Simar
- Publisher: North Star Press of St. Cloud
- Publication date: Oct. 7 2025
- ISBN-10: 1682011682
- ISBN-13: 978-1682011683
- Genre: Historical Fiction
Book Description (from Amazon.ca)
Loneliness gnaws and chews like the relentless prairie wind. Dakota homesteader, Digger Dancy, props his feet in the oven and waits for the storm to end. His brother, George, barges into the soddy in a swirl of blowing snow. George announces he will abandon his claim to seek a wife. He can’ t stand the loneliness. Digger slaps a stack of old newspapers on the table and convinces him to place an ad for a correspondence bride in the Montana Matrimonial News. Doctor Gamla, the almost-doctor and midwife, treats George’ s frostbite, and offers a cure for his melancholia. She tells of two sisters living in tar-paper shacks along the Mad Dog River. The brothers cannot imagine how Doctor Gamla’ s cure will change their lives. Nickelbo’ s whole world is wheat. The homesteaders talk about crops, worry about the weather, complain about prices, and dream what they’ ll buy after the harvest. Asa Wainwright busts sod with a grasshopper plow. Ingrid Larson dallies over planting to avoid her sister’ s wedding. Drunken Oscar Borgom gets lost in a storm on the way to the outhouse. Emma Wilson kneels in the cellar and prays for the hailstorm to miss their farm. Sunniva hauls buffalo bones into town with a team of mules. Skeeter Jorgenson plots for his correspondence bride to arrive in time for the harvest festival. Through it all, Doctor Gamla delivers babies, treats ailments, and offers cures and advice. “ My cures work if you can stand them.”
My Thoughts
This is the second novel I have read by Candace Simar, and I enjoyed getting to experience another of her historical stories.
Montana Matrimonial News takes readers back to a time when settlers had to live on land before they could claim it as their own, and mail-order brides were part of life on the frontier. Candace Simar really nailed the historical details, from the land to the types of homes people lived in during that era.
I was a little confused at first with the storyline and all the characters, but as I continued reading, it all started to come together. I loved how the different pieces of the story connected throughout the book. Doc Gamla is a character whose mannerisms make it easy to imagine exactly what she would look like. Loved her! There were so many characters to fall in love with.
It isn’t a very long novel, and I truly appreciated seeing how the community came together. It’s a lovely reminder of how important connection and community were during a time when life on the frontier wasn’t easy.
If you enjoy historical fiction with memorable characters, an authentic historical setting, and a story about community, Montana Matrimonial News is worth adding to your reading list.
Rating: 4
Reviewed by: KellyR
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