An impressive, highly readable, suspenseful work of historical fiction. This is an excellent introduction to the travails of the Reed Donner Party, which found itself marooned in the winter while trying to make it to California. There's a sort of dual time line here- with some chapters focused on the after and some on the horrors of the trail. The name of the narrator is never given - and Shannon advises in the afternoon that she is Shannon's creation. If you are unfamiliar with this horror, you'll learn a lot and if you are familiar with it, you will be impressed at the depth of the research. Wisely the usual focus on cannibalism is minimized and rather the characters are emphasized. I was truly engaged with this to the point where I found myself wikipediaing the Breens and others once I was done, having held off while reading so that I did not spoil the surprise (for want of a better word) of who lived and who died. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is great!

It has been 13 years since Mrs. Jacob Klein came west to California. She doesn't like remembering her journey west. She has three children now and a husband....and she doesn't want them to know she was part of the Donner Party. She wants to keep the horror of that winter in the wilderness a secret. Some of the survivors have made money or gained fame from telling partial truths about their experiences that winter....but she doesn't want to risk the truth destroying her new life with her family.

This book switches back and forth from Mrs. Klein's present day to her experiences as part of the Donner Party in the winter of 1846. I don't usually like books that jump back and forth in time, but for this story it worked nicely. Mrs. Klein is hiding so much from her family...she hides behind her married name, never revealing really who she is while telling her story. Some secrets are just too much to share...too dangerous, too revealing. She chooses to remain silent, rather than tell half-truths like others have done.

Mistakes. Rough choices. Consequences. Starvation. The Donner Party is remembered for all of those things. This book adds a human element to the story we've all heard many times before. It isn't all doom and gloom. The author mixes the horror and desperation with courage, optimism and hopefulness. When I was all done with this book, I had to sit back and think for awhile to ascertain what I think about the narrator. Mixed feelings. On the one hand I find Mrs. Klein to be courageous, strong and intelligent. But on the other hand, I find her secretive, manipulative and maybe even a bit weak in that she can't tell the truth about herself for fear that her family will be horrified. I can understand it....and yet, it made me feel a bit of negative emotions about her. So strong in the face of danger....yet so fearful of telling the truth about the experience. I would suppose if I had something of that nature in my past, I would want to hide it from friends and family as well. And I would be very upset at others using the situation for personal gain, especially if I knew they weren't telling the whole truth.

Interesting and creative story. I am definitely looking forward to more by this author!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

This is a very gripping, fictional account about the Donner part. The author dug deep into their desperation and sorrow. This is not an easy book to read, but the author did an excellent job of putting the readers on that trail with the doomed wagon train.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC.

Our main character, only introduced by her married name Mrs. Klein, takes us on a long journey from hometown Cincinnati to the new state of California. We are part of the 1840's wagon train to the new frontier. A rough journey through a diverse and unforgiving landscape. We get to know the different families, their traditions and values, their place in the order of things. There are friends and rivals, laughter and sadness, some fierce temperaments and deaths along the way. The survival of the fittest, eventually arriving at Sutter's Fort.
The story is told from the New World, through the journal of Mrs. Klein. At first she's not sure she has anything to say, but does she ever!
'When Winter Comes' is a story of dreams, struggles and never giving up. Told at a pleasant pace, this is an impressive piece of American settlers history.
Beautifully written, gripping, heartwrenching historical fiction at its best.

I have read several books on the Donner family disastrous journey to California, and was so looking forward to reading this one, I was not at all disappointed, this is a great story. Even though it is based upon the true journey, with much research done, it is told by a fictional character. I found this to be enlightening and added depth to the storyline. I did find it was a little difficult to keep all the families straight, until I started a log of the husbands, wives, and children, that helped out tremendously.
The story does not dwell just on the Donner’s, it covers other families, and I felt this was a great way to broaden the historical remembrance of them. The writing is excellent, the descriptions are so good, you can envision the wagon trains, the trail of animals, the clothing, their campfires, the method of cooking, it was a tremendous story. There are some very emotional sections of the book, in fact, I’ve never had a book so well written that the description of a scene almost made me physically ill, this one did.
This is not a happy go lucky story, it tells of loss, death, heartache, but also resilience, trials and tribulations, and most of all, faith and hope that the lord would see them through. The human desire to take off for a place so far away, in just a wagon, pulled by a cow, with a few of your belongings, a few provisions and all of your family, your wife, and small children to start anew in a place you’ve only heard about, is so remarkable to read. I highly recommend.
I was given the opportunity to receive this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 5*****’s.

I really enjoyed this well written, very descriptive fictionalized version of the Donner Party as they traveled out West via wagon train from Independence , Missouri heading to California and all they encountered along the way. I did not know much about this, and it is the reason why I enjoy historical fiction so much. I felt as if I was going along for the ride. Told through the voice of a young girl, as she looks back while writing in her journal 13 years later, She has run away from an abusive home and joins the wagon train as they depart Cincinnati.
The journey runs into many difficult moments along the way and they are all tested in ways they could not have ever imagined. The severe weather and shortage of food contributed to their misery and loss of many lives.
I found myself doing some additional research after reading the book because I was so interested in what actually occurred.
The author includes notes from actual people who traveled in the group at the end of the book. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

When Winter Comes,  V.A. Shannon

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Historical fiction

Gosh, such a difficult book to review. I enjoyed it immensely, but it also made me incredibly angry, sad, squeamish, and so glad I was born in recent history.
Its easy to judge from the perspective of a safe, warm home, plenty of food, good trustworthy family and friends. The Indian saying about walking a moon in anothers shoes before judging is a good one to bear in mind. Who knows what we'd do when faced with death?

We get the story from Mrs Jacob Klein, now a well respected person, wife and mother. Her husband Jacob doesn't figure largely in this story, and yet I get the feeling he knows what happened, he saw how harrowing the journey had been for his wife, and his decision right at the start to tell her he would never ask gave her a peace of mind.
She didn't love him when they married, but over the years that respect and trust has grown, and I feel she does love him now, not with a grand passion, but with a depth that is solid, means more to her.

When we first meet her she's one of many, families struggling to survive, parents who don't care or have given up caring, and just use whatever they can to scratch a living, steeped in the alcohol that helps them forget for a bit how hard life is. That's her future, selling her body, unless she takes charge, and when the opportunity comes she grabs it, and runs, out onto the trail with folk hoping for a new life.
Its hard, she's on her own, tagging on to a family by their goodwill, and need for her help. Things go wrong of course, days are long, life is tough but somehow they're getting through. Seeds are sown, moments of distrust, stories embellished, accusations and insinuations run riot, as happens with any large group, but so far they are making progress. Not without losses, but they all expected that.
Then someone comes up with a shortcut, tells some of the others they'll get there ahead of the main group if they take it, they'll get the best opportunities, the best land, the best grazing, be wealthy, and the infamous Donner Party sets out.

That part is true, the story is a fictionalised tale based upon real events, and its harrowing to read in parts.
Of course its never as easy as it seems, the shortcut proves to be anything but, and they fall far behind, the bad weather catches up and we see all this happening through the main characters eyes. Harsh realities bring out the best in some folk and the worst in others, and it makes for some tough reading, but I was gripped by wanting to know how things worked out. Slowly the misfortunes build on and life gets harder and harder. None of them escape unscathed and they have to take some hard decisions over what to do.

Reading it, I was thinking of the unwavering cold, no real shelter, no warm clothes or bedding, no medical supplies, very little food, and the outlook bleak, with no hope of getting through before the hard weather sets in for months. That real last resort, eating the dead so the living can survive, its an awful thought, but then so is letting children starve when bodies are meat that could save them. Hard choice to make and the decision never to speak of it is a good one.
As always though there are those with loud voices who make money from the story, not by telling the truth of course, but by presenting themselves in the best light, and by talking down and blaming those who they've held grudges against for so long.
That's human life, that still happens, never let the truth get in the way of a good story is something we see today in the news all the time. Some things never change, but those lies can decimate anothers life.


Stars: Four, a story I really enjoyed, hard though parts were to read.
I liked the contrast of the seemingly content and well off Mrs Jacob Klein, with the scared, starving waif she began the story as.
I loved the history part of it, that its a real story, though a fictionalised account, and I felt for those poor souls who were part of it.
It gave me much to think about after.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers

MY REVIEW:

"Hunger is an evil thing, and brings with it the worst of human nature; it is an agony of the flesh, but it is an agony of the spirit as well."

Most people who have even a passing interest in Pioneer times have heard one or more versions of the story of the Donner party's trek from Ohio to California which ended in murder and cannibalism. WHEN WINTER COMES is a new fictional version of this true tale.

Told thirteen years after the survivors arrival in California, this tale is written in story form, but as if it were being written in a journal rather than spoken out loud.

Mrs. Jacob Klein was but a young teenager when she set out in 1846 with nothing more than the clothes on her back to join a wagon train heading from her birthplace in Cincinnati to the wonder of a new life in California.

Her husband Jacob has no idea what befell her on her journey and does not try to force her to relive those memories. However, his gift of a beautiful, blank journal prompts her to fill it with the recollections of the very worst time of her life.

"My eyes blur with weariness, and my hand cramps. But my mind will not be still. It pours out memory like a never-ending stream of water that cannot be contained."

Author V.A. SHANNON writes about the camraderie the members of the wagon train experienced at the start of their journey. As time and hardship start to wear on the pioneers, that early easy camraderie starts to erode.

What happens next is NOT the same as what has been reported and believed for the last 150 years.

Author V.A. Shannon seamlessly leads the reader between the narrator's journal entries and her present reality.

Not only is this a historic tale of survival, it is also a coming of age story. In fact, it is also a study of humanity and of what people are willing to do, and what lines they will cross, in order to survive.

How far would you go to ensure your survival?

What would you be willing to do to ensure the survival of your spouse? What about for the survival of your children?

Would you allow social conventions and the fear of what others would think of you to dictate your actions? Would you stand your ground when making decisions? Would you defer to others? Would you become a leader or a follower?

Now, imagine that the year is 1846. Modern technology does not exist. There are no official roads. Would you resort to eating human flesh if the choice was between that and death?

With those questions in mind, you now need to pick up a copy of WHEN WINTER COMES. When you finish reading it, come back to my blog amiesbookreviews dot WordPress dot com and let me know what you thought and if after reading it, you have altered your answers to the questions above.

I love it when a book makes me think and when it is written well enough that not only do I feel sympathy towards the characters, but empathy as well. It is for this reason, as well as the simple fact that I enjoyed the story, that I rate WHEN WINTER COMES as 4 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a historical novel that tells the story of a girl who runs away from her abusive family in Cincinnati, and joins a group of settlers who are traveling across the country to settle in California. Among the members of this group is a family called Donner; this is a story of the tragic events leading to the story of the "Donner Party," where a group of settlers were trapped by snowfall before crossing the mountains into California. They had limited supplies, were unable to find another source of food, and some of the survivors resorted to eating the dead in order to survive.

This is a well-told story of this girl's experience traveling with the settlers. It is told from her point of view as an adult woman, with flashbacks to her thoughts and experiences while traveling. Her limited understanding of the interactions between the adults in the group was believable, and her particular connection to the family whose patriarch is often treated as the antagonist of the story was well written and convincing.

In fact this book reminded me a bit of one of my favorite books ever, Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, and that is high praise for me. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historic novels of the period.

I received an advanced reading copy from the publishers via NetGalley. Thanks!

This book is based on a true story of one of the first American pioneers passing the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to reach California. “In early November, 1846, the Donner Party found the route blocked by snow and was forced to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Of the 81 settlers, only 45 survived to reach California, some of them resorting to cannibalism to survive.”

1846 Cincinnati, this story starts with a 15 year old heroine, who escapes her abusive father and trails along with hundreds of wagons heading to California; as people are lured by the stories of riches, good land with beautiful landscape and blue cloudless sky.

The journey takes them through the low and high lands, and the Great Salt Desert. Nothing is as promised. What is supposed to take a day, takes days. They “loose animals along the way, on the mountains and in the desert, and now everyone lost more to the Indians.”

When they reach the east side of Sierra Nevada mountain range, they split into two groups. One group led by Donner Party decides to take an unknown shortcut in hopes of making to California quicker as they are running out of provisions. But what lies ahead of them are treacherous mountains, which slow their progress tremendously. And the snow comes earlier than expected. They have to stay on the east side of the mountains until the snow melts.

This past time story is intertwined with the present time story, both told by the heroine, who wants to make sure that a true account of their journey is given as she hears many lies being told by other survivors. It is also interesting in a sense that it gives the past time story a flavor. As the struggle of the journey might have gotten monotonous at times, it is entwined with the information how California becomes a state and joins the Union. It also gives a sense how different life is back on the east coast. When the first pioneers struggle to make a living in California, the east coasters are fighting for women rights or northerners to abolish slavery.

I also enjoyed reading about the first immigrants in Cincinnati as well as the encounters with the Indians. All those historical accounts give the book a great flavor to this tragic story of survival.

Excellent read about the trials and tribulations of the ill-fated Donner party that started out happily enough from. Cincinnati,Ohio in the 1850's on their way to a new and better life for their family and kin in California.
Much has been written about this fateful journey,both fictional and non-fictional,but
I truly have read none,that has held my interest more than this rendition by V.A. Shannon.
Would definitely recommend as a fascinating read for anyone interested in early Pioneer History.


My sincere thanks to the Kensington Publishing Corp.and Netgalley for the opportunity to read & give my honest review of "When Winter Comes"

WHEN WINTER COMES by V.A. Shannon (October 30th 2018 by Kensington) is a historical novel about the ill-fated Donner Party. As soon as I saw that there was a new novel coming out about the Donner Party, I knew I had to check it out. Thanks to repeated readings of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and countless hours spent playing the Oregon Trail computer games, I grew up with a (un)healthy obsession with the American West and westward expansion. That obsession has lasted well into my adulthood. What happened to the ill-fated Donner Party was just one of the many incidents in western history that fascinates me, and I’m still upset that none of the Oregon Trail games gave us the option of resorting to cannibalism when the food ran out. Perhaps that might have been too morbid or taboo for a children’s game that had our characters repeatedly dying of dysentery and, starting in Oregon Trail III, gave us the option to rub salt in the wound despite the injury our fictional pioneers suffered. Oh, William just accidently shot himself in the foot while cleaning his shotgun?...Let’s just rub some salt in the wound and see how that goes. After all, William is going to die of dysentery sooner or later.

There is still a lot of mystery surrounding what really happened during those long winter months that the Donner Party was trapped in the mountains. Some of the survivors later told their stories – but with each retelling, the stories became more and more embellished. The survivors pointed the finger of blame and vilified each other. They contradicted each other’s stories. And then the rescuers told their versions of what they claim they witnessed and overheard, and that only muddied the truth even more.

What we do know is that in 1846, a large group of pioneers set out from Independence, Missouri and headed west to California. Along the way, a group of less than 100 people broke off from the group and attempted to take a shortcut that they were told would get them to California weeks earlier than if they continued on the established route. This group – known as the Donner Party or the Donner-Reed Party – wound up getting trapped by heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. During the months they were caught in the mountains, many died and the survivors were forced to result to cannibalism to survive. But what was the extent of the cannibalism?

WHEN WINTER COMES is a heartbreaking novel about survival and human nature. The story is told in the first person perspective of one of the survivors, and it switches back and forth between the past (the lengthy trip west and the nightmarish struggle to survive the winter) and the present (13 years later). The narrator is a nameless teenage girl who fled an abusive, hardscrabble life in Cincinnati and joined up with the wagon train as a helpmate to a married couple and their young daughter. In the beginning, the main character is an immature, annoying child. As she travel west, she grows as a person and becomes a mature woman. The nameless character, only known as Mrs. Jacob Klein in the “present” parts of the novel, has never told anyone – not even her husband or children – that is one of the Donner Party survivors. She is too scared of how her family, friends, and neighbors will treat her if they knew. So, instead of sharing her story with anyone, she tells her story in the pages of her journal. She might never tell anyone her version of events, but she is setting the record straight (at least for herself) of what really happened during those months in the mountains. She’s read the accounts from other survivors – she’s read all the rumors and the lies – and her purpose is to defend their actions, champion the real heroes, and condemn the actual villains. Mrs. Jacob Klein showcases the people who traveled with the Donner Party – showing what kind of people they were during the journey and how they changed for better or worse during the months they were snowbound in the mountain. She also recounts the highlights of the journey.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have just finished reading V. A. Shannon's When Winter Comes on netgalley.com. It is scheduled for release on October 30. It chronicles the story of the Donner party. You see the story through the eyes of a girl who runs away from her horrific life in Cincinnati and joins a family, the Kesebergs, as they travel in a wagon train to California. She is a survivor who, some 15 years later, is chronicling their story in her journal to make sure a true account is given. There are moments of utter despair, sadness and horror as these pioneers struggle to survive. But there are also moments of joy, happiness and delight as they make their journey across the country. It is not a book to be read if you want a "light" story, but it is a book that will make you appreciate the struggles pioneers went through to settle our country.

5 stars

This book is a fictional account of a true story. I, too, have read the novel The Hunger which is a very different take on what happened.

The story begins as the narrator, now a married woman living a quiet life in California with her husband Jacob and three daughters. She spends the day cooking, cleaning, gardening and spending time with her quilting bee friends.

When she receives a journal from Jacob at first she is afraid of writing anything down. But she picks up her pen and the story of her life pours out. She begins at age fourteen living with her abusive and drunk father and her mother who is selling herself and is also a drinker. When sold to a riverboat gambler, she pushes him away and he hits his head. She runs from the scene and joins a wagon train heading for California. She is taken in by the Keesbergs. She is rather loud mouthed and sarcastic at first, but gradually changes when she looks about her and realizes her lack of maturity and situation.

When an ill-fated decision to take a “shortcut” is made, the small party of wagons, including the Donners (who feel themselves somewhat superior to the rest), the Reeds (Mr. is so full of himself he is insufferable), Mr. Eddy (who tells tall tales and embroiders his every pronouncement), Mr. Hardkoop, the Breens and many others. Tempers begin to flare and several accusations are made. The people began to show their prejudices and perhaps their true colors.

The balance of the tale tells the story of a cruel winter spent in the mountains called the Sierra Nevada. There are several children with them. When they can’t go any further, they built shelter (such as it was), but ran out of food. All of the beef and horses left has been slaughtered and long since consumed. They were relieved by the intermittent arrivals of rescue parties, but not enough food was left. Some folk decided to walk out.

This tale is very sad – and somewhat hopeful. Ms. Shannon brought the individuals to life. In colorful and painstaking detail she recounts a horrible story of survival (at least for some). She describes the bitter cold, the depth of the snow and how heartrending and difficult the circumstances in those little ramshackle lean-tos were. She undertook very exhaustive and detailed research. The writing is very good, as is the plotting. I truly enjoyed this book, horrible as the subject matter was. I immediately went to Amazon to look for others of her novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Kensington for forwarding to me a copy of this informative and well-researched book for me to read, enjoy and review.