Basehor Library recommended read. Story of 80 yr old women in fictious mining community in Colo in the late 1800?s. Full of her stories of her life and those in the community.

Set at the end of Hennie's life in Ten Mile Colorado, through her telling of stories to newcomer teenage wife Nit Spindle, you get a good idea of the past 70 years of Hennie's life. Quite a good turn that Hennie agrees to marry Tom and live in Chicago in the winter, instead of moving in with her adopted daughter Mae in Iowa. ( )

3.5 stars

It’s 1936 in a small gold mining town in the Colorado Rockies. 86-year old Hennie has lived here for 70 years. When a new young woman moves to town, Hennie befriends her, as she knows it will take time for most people to accept the newcomer to town, especially when they think her husband has taken a job away from a local. Hennie is one for telling stories, so she keeps Nit entertained with stories of her background when and why she moved from the South (as did Nit and her husband), and more about Hennie’s own life and stories about some of the happenings around town over the years. Unfortunately, Hennie’s daughter wants Hennie to move “down” (off the mountain), as she worries with Hennie living alone in a dangerous place.

I enjoyed this. There was a lot about quilting, which is something I have never done, but I bet people who do quilt would appreciate that in this book. Leaned a bit about gold mining, as well (one thing - I’d never heard of dredging; I guess I’ve read more about the gold rush and panning for gold). There was one unexpected turn at the end (I see other reviews tell me there was lots of (too much!) foreshadowing about something, but somehow I managed to miss that!). Overall, this was enjoyable. ( )

I ( )

Prayers for Sale is the story of a friendship between Hattie Comfort and Nit Spindle in a small mining town in Colorado in the early to mid twentieth century. Hattie has lived in Middle Swan, CO for seventy years. She has had a long and mostly fulfilling life in the mining town, however her daughter has been pressuring her to move in with her in her home on the Mississippi River in Iowa. When Hattie meets young newlywed, Nit Spindle, she befriends the girl and helps her adjust to life in the harsh environment. Hattie and Nit do a lot of quilting together and Hattie tells Nits stories of her past and others in the mining town. I really liked the stories told in the book as well as the interesting characters in the town, but something seemed off with the way it was written. The stories and flashbacks did not always seem integrated smoothly into the text. I was distracted that the stories that Hattie told about herself were not told in first person. There was a lot of heavy handed foreshadowing that was more annoying than suspenseful (Hattie often referred to an unnamed problem she had to resolve before moving away), I think that the ending would have been more effective if she hadn't referred to it so much earlier in the story. Overall, I liked the story, but wished the actual writing didn't seem so forced and disjointed. It was nice portrait of characters in a turn of the century mining town and I will probably give the author another chance to see if this is a problem overall or just an issue with this book. ( )