A Girl, a Goal, and the California Gold Rush – Walk on Earth a Stranger {Review}

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
Series: Goldseer #1
Publisher: Greenwillow Books (2015)
Hardcover (431 pages)
Via: Library
Rating:
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Gold is in my blood, in my breath, even in the flecks in my eyes.
Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.
She also has a secret.
Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters. But what would someone do to control a girl with that kind of power? A person might murder for it.
When everything Lee holds dear is ripped away, she flees west to California—where gold has just been discovered. Perhaps this will be the one place a magical girl can be herself. If she survives the journey.
The acclaimed Rae Carson begins a sweeping new trilogy set in Gold Rush-era America, about a young woman with a powerful and dangerous gift.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

My Review

I recommended that my local library purchase this book quite a while ago. Then, I got a phone call saying the books I put on hold were in. Imagine how surprised I was to learn that this was one of them!

Even though I have been staying pretty busy with my grad school classes and teaching, I made time for this book. Walk on Earth a Stranger chronicles Leah Westfall’s westward journey from Georgia to the California Gold Rush. It isn’t going to be easy to get there, but Lee is determined to make her own future in California far from her scheming uncle.

Lee is strong and doesn’t know the meaning of giving up. She’ll do whatever it takes and whatever has to be done. It is because of her drive to succeed that she disguises herself as a boy to make the trip to California.

Jefferson is Lee’s best friend, but he left town without her. He said he would wait awhile in Independence for her in case she should decide to follow. Lee doesn’t know how long he’ll wait for her but she knows she will need to find him. She needs to be able to trust at least one person.

I really liked this story of a girl in 1849 who refuses to let others decide the path for her life. She is independent and stubborn. She has an end goal in mind and she will do anything, fight any fight, to get there.

In all, Walk on Earth a Stranger was a great book and I can’t wait to read Like a River Glorious.

Have you read this book yet? What were your thoughts?