Survival Saga

In 1846, a group of settlers who eventually came to be known as The Donner Party, left their home in Illinois in search of a better life in California. Unfortunately, their dreams of  prosperity quickly turned into a nightmare. Their faulty and ill-advised decision of  following a supposed shortcut mapped out by a shady character named Lansford Hastings, which added more time to their journey and cost them more than they could have anticipated, in addition to infighting and bad luck, caused the group to be trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains by an insurmountable snowstorm where they were forced to resort to horrible means to survive. The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown, a compelling and gripping read, chronicles the ordeal of twenty-one year-old Sarah Graves, a new bride, who chose to follow her husband and family on this perilous journey. When the party became hopelessly trapped, Sarah and a small group fashioned snowshoes to walk out of the mountains and find help for the stranded party. This is a vivid depiction of an infamous and never-to-be-forgotten event in history