Augusta is a beautiful mix of fiction and nonfiction anecdotes about a tenacious woman working to keep her family afloat in the early 1900s. Based on the author’s grandmother and family stories, Augusta tells the tale of a young farm girl married off at thirteen, abandoned, and then remarried to another abusive man. Her second husband, Ottis, is fired, leaving Augusta to be their family’s sole provider. While the storm of calamity continues to affect her family, Augusta must make the hardest decision of her life: whether to keep her youngest, Lottie, or allow her to be adopted by a wealthy family.

Augusta is a heart-wrenching novel centering on the unique circumstances of a woman in a time period where dependency on marriage to a man for survival was commonplace. Augusta represents a silent yet resilient generation of women who frugally kept their families fed and clothed throughout poverty-stricken years. Many of these women turned to each other and created pockets of communities and villages to ensure mutual aid. The writing captured this well. Augusta’s pain is clear, but so is her love for those around her. She was forced into a marriage and motherhood at an extremely young age and thus relied on her community to guide her through adulthood. Her sacrifices became an important parable for those of us who live in the present.

I enjoyed how the author filled in some gaps to complete Augusta’s story. The story of Al and Angie was particularly touching. They served as a silver lining and restored optimism back into the story. I also liked the historically accurate descriptions of appliances, money, and the like. Augusta’s wide-eyed incredulity towards appliances is interesting to witness. While modern readers will be interested in the simplicity of it, Augusta is impressed by what it can do. In a lot of ways, readers can still feel a connection to Augusta amidst the decades of distance.

Augusta is an essential story for all readers and will continue to be important for years to come.

Pages: 199 | ASIN : B0BQ9KLK2K