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Beverly Scott
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Sarah's Secret: A Western Tale of Betrayal and Forgiveness Paperback – December 6, 2017

by Beverly Scott (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
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Follow the paths of Sarah and Will (or Sam) as they tell their stories of trust, secrets, and betrayal on the frontier in the old West. Their pioneer spirit helped to fuel the expansion into the Western territories of the United States. The two are historically on their separate journeys, yet they remain intimately connected. Through the fictionalized Western frontier tale of Sam and Sarah, the author, Beverly Scott, was inspired to reveal rumored secrets from her family history. In 1878, Will is on the run after killing a man in a barroom gunfight. He escapes the Texas Rangers by joining a cattle drive as a cook headed to Dodge City. He struggles with the dilemma of saving his life or attempting to return to his pregnant wife and five children. Just when he thinks he might be able to return home, he is confronted by a bounty hunter who captures him and plans to return him to Fort Worth, Texas to be hanged. Although Will changes his name to Sam, he remains an irresponsible, lonely and untrustworthy man on the dodge from the law who abandons the women he loves. He ultimately seeks redemption and marries Sarah. In 1911, Sarah, a pioneer woman and a widow with five children, struggles to find the inner strength to overcome betrayal, loneliness, fears, and self-doubt. Her husband, Sam, thirty years her senior, died with a mysterious and defiant declaration, “I won’t answer!”. Despite poverty and a crippling illness, she draws on her pioneer spirit to hold her family together and return to Nebraska to be near her parents and siblings.When Sarah returns to Nebraska she receives staggering news which complicates her efforts to support her children. She is shocked, angry and emotionally devastated. Since she is attempting to establish herself in the community as a teacher, she believes she must keep her secret even from her own family. Will Sarah find forgiveness in her heart and the resolve to accept her new life alone?
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  1. Print length
    308 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    December 6, 2017
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0983374015
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0983374015
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"What if your world was turned upside down because the person you loved and thought you knew kept a secret that could destroy you and your family? Sarah Martin is left confused by her husband's dying words, which in a state of delirium, seemed like he was having an argument with someone. Not thinking anything of it, she instead absorbs her mind with how she's going to raise five children on her own, with no income and in a town where a widow is not welcomed. Later on, when she applies for widow benefits, to support her children, she is denied. She recalls her husband's parting words and slowly peels back their life together for clues.
Scott imbues her main protagonist, Sarah Martin, with the enduring spirit of the American pioneer as she struggles to support her children. On top of wrestling with depression and grief from the loss of her husband and father, Sarah further struggles with anger and shame when the truth of why she will never receive her husband's pension is revealed. She manages against the odds by moving back to familiar territory and taking on the job of a teacher.
In addition to Scott's strong characterization, the author effortlessly transplants the reader in the turn of the 20th century of the American West through the eyes of Sarah Martin. It can be difficult to imagine living in a house without readily available water or electricity. A time when cars were a novelty for well-off people and travelers often relied on the hospitality of people for directions, food, drink, and shelter. Readers who want a glimpse into the life of a pioneer woman will take joy in Sarah's tale as they get a flavor for the hardships one takes on in a new territory." - Maria A. Hughes, The US Review of Books

"It opens in 1911 New Mexico, where Sarah's husband Sam is dying, leaving her alone to manage five children with no means of support, and evolves into a decision to leave the sandy, rattlesnake-infested world Sam has brought them to for a wagon journey back home to family roots in Nebraska. From skinning rabbits to finding safe crossings during the journey, Sarah faces quicksand bogs and many dangers as she tries to keep her family together. Scott could have kept the focus on Sarah's perspective and trials; but her book's second section focuses on Will, a "sod buster" who gains employment on a cattle drive as he searches for a way home, guilty about abandoning his children and wife even as he dodges the law and becomes involved with another woman. How these disparate lives come together makes for a Western story of struggle, redemption, betrayal, and family ties that winds its way through hearts and minds as deftly as it moves through early America's rugged landscape... (The story) goes well beyond well-researched history or leisure adventure to closely examine the far-reaching significance of individual lives. Readers of Western fiction who enjoy a solid blend of history and psychology, and who seek more than just a frontier flavor in their fiction, will find Sarah's Secret a revealing and absorbing read." -- D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

About the Author

For over thirty-five years, Bev specialized in serving executives and managers as a leadership coach and organizational consultant. She taught organization psychology and founded The 3rd Act, a program whose mission supports positive aging. Moving into her own third act, she began a genealogical journey to uncover the details of her grandparents' lives. She concluded that the story needed to be told as fiction using the known facts as her framework. Sarah's Secret: A Western Tale of Betrayal and Forgiveness, Bev's debut novel, is the culmination of her long-held desire to tell the family story and confirm the whispered rumors about her grandfather. Bev previously focused on publishing non-fiction work, including the second edition of Consulting on the Inside, which she co-authored with Kim Barnes, published in 2011. She has written numerous professional articles and contributed to 70 Things to Do When You Turn 70 edited by Ronnie Sellers and Mark Chimsky. Bev blogs on several sites, including her own, "The Writing Life" on www.bevscott.com. Bev enjoys traveling, visiting with friends, reading and spending time with her grandsons. She lives with her spouse in San Francisco.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ SWSM Press (December 6, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 308 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0983374015
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0983374015
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

About the author

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Beverly Scott

Beverly Scott

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BEVERLY SCOTT

Find me:

http://www.bevscott.com

LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/1YqYgeA

Goodreads:http://bit.ly/2bMyCVF

Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/bevscottsf/

Latest news: 2020 Winner, Independent Press Award, Western Historical Fiction

Press release: https://bevscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Press-release-May-27-2020-Beverly-Scott-Author.pdf

2019 NYC Big Book Award winner, Distinguished Favorites, Western Fiction.

"Sarah’s Secret: A Western Tale of Betrayal and Forgiveness," Bev’s debut novel, is the culmination of her long-held desire tell the family story and confirm the whispered story about her grandfather

Bev specialized in serving executives and managers as a leadership coach and organizational consultant for over thirty-five years. She taught organization psychology and founded "The 3rd Act," a program whose mission supports positive aging. As she grew into her own third act, she started a genealogical journey to uncover the details of her grandparents’ lives. She concluded that the story needed to be told as fiction using the known facts as her framework.

Bev previously focused on publishing non-fiction work, including the second edition of "Consulting on the Inside," which she co-authored with Kim Barnes, published in 2011. She has written numerous professional articles and contributed to "70 Things to Do When You Turn 70," edited by Ronnie Sellers and Mark Chimsky. Bev blogs on several sites, including her own, “The Writing Life” on www.bevscott.com

Bev enjoys traveling, visiting with friends, reading and spending time with her grandsons. She lives with her spouse in San Francisco.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
70 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

teachlz
5.0 out of 5 stars Western Betrayal
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
Lindas Book Obsession Reviews
“SARAH’S SECRETS: A Western Tale of Betrayal and Forgiveness” by BEVERLY SCOTT

Beverly Scott, author of “Sarah’s Secrets” does a wonderful job of describing the setting and plot for this story. Based on the author’s questions of her own family life, Beverly Scott takes us back in time to the 1880s to the old west, and Pioneer days. Life was simple but it was difficult to survive. There were Native Americans (Indians), wild animals, illnesses and the severe weather conditions that made it very difficult to live. It was hard to trust strangers in hard times looking for food or water.
The genres of this story are Fiction, and Historical Fiction, with the author taking poetic license to add the historical details to the fictional characters. There are major secrets and betrayals that will cause conflict with the main characters.
The author describes the characters as complex and complicated, courageous, brave, and struggling with secrets and to stay alive. The author takes us on an adventure as Sarah and Sam tell their stories of their lives in the wild west. Sarah is left as a widow with children to take care of five children after Sam’s death. Sarah is a former school teacher but in these times, single women and widows do not usually get jobs easily. The trip back home to her family is treacherous and dangerous.
Worse of all is the betrayal and consequences that Sarah has to learn to live with.
I liked Sarah and found her to be extremely tolerant and courageous. She was a wonderful caretaker and mother.
I appreciate that the author describes the importance of family, friends, love, hope, faith and forgiveness. I would highly recommend this book. I received a copy of this book for my honest review.
One person found this helpful
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Olivia
4.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Story
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
I chose to read this book because I was interested to see how the author created a fictional story based on the real lives of her ancestors. The story itself was compelling, the dual narrative was engaging, and I appreciated how the pension application process was woven throughout. Pension files are a series of documents that genealogists are familiar with, and this story helps shed light on what the process of creating those documents would have been like and how lives at the time would have been affected. One downside for me was the number of typos that distracted from the narrative. I also would have liked to have seen what the known facts were that the author mentioned were her framework, although some were alluded to in the dedication. Overall, though, I really enjoyed the read.
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Kate Farrell
5.0 out of 5 stars An American Frontier Discovery
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Sarah's Secret, a debut, historical novel by Bev Scott, is at its core, an adventure story of American, 19th century pioneer days that brings the reader along dusty trails, through the plains, and into the humble adobes of dugouts and shanty towns. Reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie books in its vivid and authentic detail of daily life amid the challenges of weather and isolation, Sarah's Secret seeks to tell the truths of frontier life by revealing both its freedoms and vulnerabilities.

Certainly, the frontier offered the freedom to run from the law, to break the law, and to hide secrets. Pioneer women, alone and remote, were often viewed as commodities: the mail order bride, the workhorse, the breeder, destined to a harsh life of drudgery, abuse, and early death. The wives and women in this book are no exception. Yet we see their resilience and independence, a strength born of hardship and tested by obstacles. As both Peggy and Sarah persevere, it becomes their adventure.

Yet, how both male and female characters test the limits of freedom is the central conflict of this book: how their moral compass guides them, their physical conditions change them, and how the long-reaching arm of the law both evades and discovers them. It is a true American story, yet the author allows the well-drawn characters to tell it, scene by scene, as they come to terms with responsibility. This is an excellent book, well-crafted and researched, a mirror to the American past and present.
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Martha
5.0 out of 5 stars Glimpse into Another World
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
Normally I don't enjoy history and only bought this book because I know the author. BUT when I read it, I was amazed as she described Sarah's life. This book reminded me of "The Alienist," in which I gained a totally new understanding of turn of the century New York City, (who ever considered that horses who died were left to rot in the city streets?).

Equally revealing about the harshness of pioneer life during that same time, this story follows the life of Sarah, as she moves away from her family and follows her much older husband to establish homesteads across the prairie. I never thought about what it took to build a one-room dugout with one window where 4 people would live, eat, sleep, and cook in sub-zero temperatures!

Vivid details of culture, isolation, and the struggles and strengths of early pioneers show Scott is a terrific researcher. While a novel, the foundation of the story is based on her grandmother and the grandfather, who died before Scott was born - and the mysteriously whispered family secrets that shrouded their lives. Read this book and discover a wholly different world, but one that encompasses the emotions of love, disappointment, faith, and determination that are eternal.
One person found this helpful
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