"Papa always said you make your own luck. But after being seasick for 5
months, 2 weeks and 6 days, I felt certain that luck had nothing to do with
anything aboard the 'Lady Luck', a poorly named vessel if ever there was one. I
had just spent the morning of my 16th birthday puking into a bucket, and I had
little hope that the day would improve. I had no doubt that I was the unluckiest
young lady in the world."Jane Peck is on her way to the Oregon Territory in the year 1854. She is engaged to marry William Baldt who was an apprentice to her father and has homesteaded in the Pacific Northwest. Jane is a graduate of Miss Hepplewhite's Young Ladies Academy in Philadelphia and nothing she learned there has prepared her for this trip. She was taught how to keep her composure, dress plainly and pack lightly, and not let little irritations sway her cheery nature! She should have learned how to kill fleas, avoid rats, bathe with seawater and avoid being seasick!
When Jane reaches Washington Territory she expects William to meet her and is shocked to discover that he is not there. Her traveling companion died on the voyage and she is forced to accept the hospitality of a group of flea-bitten men. Jane desperately looks for William to rescue her but in the meantime she must survive on her own.
by Sally Grant of the Whatcom County Library System
2004 Evergreen Awards
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