Critics' Opinion:
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Published Jun 2017
352 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
A riveting narrative, filled with a colorful cast of characters, timeless themes, and great set pieces. Europe in summer. New York in fall. Africa in winter. And the lively, unforgettable town of Livingston, Montana.
It is New York, 1904, and Dulcy Remfrey, despite an idiosyncratic, traveling childhood, faces the predictable life of a woman of the time. All that changes when her eccentric father returns from his expedition to Africa without any of the proceeds from the sale of a gold mine. It seems he's lost his mind along with the money, and Dulcy's obsessive ex-fiancé (and her father's business partner) insists she come to Seattle to decipher her father's cryptic notebooks, which may hold clues to the missing funds. When her father dies unexpectedly, taking the truth with him, Dulcy looks at her future, finds it unbearable, and somewhere in the northern Rockies disappears from the train bringing her father's body home.
Is it possible to disappear from your old life and create another? Dulcy travels the West reading stories about her own death and finds a small Montana town where she's reborn as Mrs. Nash, a wealthy young widow, free from the burden of family. But her old life won't let go so easily, and soon her ex-fiancé is on her trail, threatening the new life she is so eager to create.
"Starred and Boxed Review. Readers will treasure Harrison's rich characterization and sharp turns of phrase." - Publishers Weekly
"Harrison ... writes atmospheric historical fiction featuring both drama and bizarrely entertaining humor ... A subtler comedy of errors among a quirky cast of characters." - Booklist
"Readers prizing action above all may appreciate this Western saga ... but those bothered by loose ends and minimal character development will be disappointed." - Library Journal
"Thoughtful, richly written historical fiction" - Kirkus
"With The Widow Nash, Jamie Harrison breathes fresh life into a fascinating period of American history. Indeed, the past has not passed. An adventurous, ambitious, inventive novel by a writer to relish." - Colum McCann, winner of the National Book Award for Let The Great World Spin
"This deliciously ambitious novel delivers one memorable character after another. None is more magnetic than the 'Widow Nash' herself, a fabulous heroine and irresistible travel companion. Jamie Harrison is a clever, gifted writer, and this shining book is flat-out terrific." - Carl Hiaasen, New York Times bestselling author of Razor Girl
"With Technicolor, vibrant prose, Jamie Harrison's novel The Widow Nash re-invents the Western from a feminist perspective; from the first page, the fierce Dulcy brings the reader into her unforgettable world. A novel as wildly original and memorable as the West itself." - Karen E. Bender, author of Refund, a Finalist for the National Book Award
"If an Edith Wharton heroine had decided to ditch the bustles and the propriety and simply lit out for a fresh start in the Territories, she might have called herself The Widow Nash ... Dulcy Remfrey, is so well rendered as to make you forget you're reading about any particular era at all. That's the mark of greatness." - Malcolm Brooks, author of Painted Horses
"From the profoundly generous and encyclopedic mind of Jamie Harrison comes a compelling novel of reinvention and the seismic sacrifices we make for difficult family. Every page contains a new historical and emotional discovery. Harrison is a true original, and she gives us a father-daughter love story for the ages." - Sheri Holman, author of the New York Times bestseller The Dress Lodger
This information about The Widow Nash was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jamie Harrison has lived in Montana with her family for almost thirty years. She has worked as a caterer, writer, and as a technical editor for archaeological, botanical and biological reports. She is the daughter of writer Jim Harrison.
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