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Never Let Go
"Sacrificing dreams and risking family, five women follow their husbands to an isolated Minnesota settlement. Struggling to survive, they develop resilience but none are prepared for the challenges they face when starving bands of Santee Sioux (Dakota) take up arms against the whites during the 1862 Dakota Conflict. Laura Duley left Indiana as a newlywed. Promised a perfect life, she endured years on the hostile frontier and the loss of family only to be taken captive by the Dakota. Independent and protective, Lavina Eastlick was shot, beaten, and left for dead after witnessing the death of several of her children. In the hope that two still survived, she stumbled miles to reach safety. Christina Koch was a headstrong German immigrant determined to make a new life in America. Challenging her captors at every turn, she finally escaped to safety. Almena Hurd, unwavering in her commitment to family, was already dealing with a missing husband when she was sent alone onto the prairie with two small children. She survived by carrying one, then returning for the other, a quarter mile at a time. Julia Wright, the honest, practical wife of an unscrupulous trader, used her language skills and understanding of the Dakota to help the captives during their ordeal, becoming so valuable that her captor refused to release her to her rescuers, the Yankton Sioux Fool Soldier Band. Their braided stories reveal a common will that allowed them to hold on no matter what and to never let go"--
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First published January 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 25, 2021
It is clear from the first paragraph that the author completed meticulous research with this book.
The historical novel focuses on the story of the wives living on Minnesota’s Lake Shetek at the time of the Dakota Conflict in August of 1862.
By that time, the Dakota had agreed to move to a reservation alongside the Minnesota River, only to find a significant number of German and Scandinavian settlers there as well. These whites’ presence presented a problem, but not the only one. The provisions promised by the Treaty of 1850 didn’t get to the Dakota, between financial pressure from conducting the Civil War and Indian agents’ perfidy.
This book cannot be categorized a mystery. From the first page, I knew a horrible fate lay ahead of these characters, whether it was death in Slaughter Slough, capture by the Dakota, or survivors’ guilt and PTSD. So this is a tough read.
The author does explain why the Dakota were so angry. It is my opinion that this could have been explained even more clearly. This is not the only time US government opened up land to settlement that really was not theirs. The Dakota conflict was inevitable, as was the eventual loss by the Dakota.
The historical novel focuses on the story of the wives living on Minnesota’s Lake Shetek at the time of the Dakota Conflict in August of 1862.
By that time, the Dakota had agreed to move to a reservation alongside the Minnesota River, only to find a significant number of German and Scandinavian settlers there as well. These whites’ presence presented a problem, but not the only one. The provisions promised by the Treaty of 1850 didn’t get to the Dakota, between financial pressure from conducting the Civil War and Indian agents’ perfidy.
This book cannot be categorized a mystery. From the first page, I knew a horrible fate lay ahead of these characters, whether it was death in Slaughter Slough, capture by the Dakota, or survivors’ guilt and PTSD. So this is a tough read.
The author does explain why the Dakota were so angry. It is my opinion that this could have been explained even more clearly. This is not the only time US government opened up land to settlement that really was not theirs. The Dakota conflict was inevitable, as was the eventual loss by the Dakota.
February 20, 2021
This is Pamela Nowak’s BEST!
I was up until wee hours of the morning finishing this book. The five main women characters and the children still exist in my mind, and I believe they will for a long while. I went West with them (and wanted to turn back constantly), but they carried on, against all odds. I like to read all sorts of fiction, from literary to psychological thrillers to various books. I only started reading historical fiction when I met a friend through the internet (Trisha Faye) who does a newsletter on Facebook titled Pages of the Past. Through that newsletter, I’ve bought so many historical fictions because of her interviewing authors that write such books. My TBR piles are overflowing. It’s like taking a history course reading these books; I’m always learning through them. This book brought to life a story not known to many and it was amazing. It’s set in the mid 1800s and all I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t born then. I would have never survived! You must read of these strong women and what they went through. Nowak’s research was thorough and incredible. She brings the women and others alive and you feel all that they feel. Bravo, Pamela Nowak! I loved it!
I was up until wee hours of the morning finishing this book. The five main women characters and the children still exist in my mind, and I believe they will for a long while. I went West with them (and wanted to turn back constantly), but they carried on, against all odds. I like to read all sorts of fiction, from literary to psychological thrillers to various books. I only started reading historical fiction when I met a friend through the internet (Trisha Faye) who does a newsletter on Facebook titled Pages of the Past. Through that newsletter, I’ve bought so many historical fictions because of her interviewing authors that write such books. My TBR piles are overflowing. It’s like taking a history course reading these books; I’m always learning through them. This book brought to life a story not known to many and it was amazing. It’s set in the mid 1800s and all I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t born then. I would have never survived! You must read of these strong women and what they went through. Nowak’s research was thorough and incredible. She brings the women and others alive and you feel all that they feel. Bravo, Pamela Nowak! I loved it!
January 25, 2022
A heartfelt, well-written story of survival. A journey for all its readers. Recommended.
February 5, 2021
I loved this book! I grew up in the area of Minnesota where this novel is set. My dad was a local historian that shared his knowledge with many, many people about this event in our history. When I was young, my dad told me the stories and we spent time walking in the footsteps of the Lake Shetek settlers portrayed in Pamela Nowak’s book. Pamela has done extensive research in writing this book and stayed true to the historical facts. The liberties she took in developing the character’s are according to factual events and written true to the time. I’m so happy Pamela revisited this spark of interest she had as a young girl and wrote this novel. I wish my dad was still here to read it. He would be so proud of you, Pam!
March 15, 2022
Nowak took on a tough subject when she wrote this historical novel about the Dakota Conflict of 1862.
She gives us the back story of five women who ended up with their families as settlers near Lake Shetek in southwestern Minnesota. It is a horrific tale as some families try to hide from the Dakota in a slough. Some people escape but some of the women and their remaining children are taken captive. To her credit, Nowak tries to present both sides with one of the women somewhat sympathetic to the Dakota even as she felt betrayed. Nowak includes the corruption on the part of government agents charged with keeping promises of food and supplies for the reservations. The historical details have been well researched with the tale of the young Dakota designated as the Fool Soldiers who bargained for release of the captives. It's a story much hidden until recent years. On the other hand, some of the day to day details of the women's lives leading up to and during the conflict and captivity don't feel right for the period.
She gives us the back story of five women who ended up with their families as settlers near Lake Shetek in southwestern Minnesota. It is a horrific tale as some families try to hide from the Dakota in a slough. Some people escape but some of the women and their remaining children are taken captive. To her credit, Nowak tries to present both sides with one of the women somewhat sympathetic to the Dakota even as she felt betrayed. Nowak includes the corruption on the part of government agents charged with keeping promises of food and supplies for the reservations. The historical details have been well researched with the tale of the young Dakota designated as the Fool Soldiers who bargained for release of the captives. It's a story much hidden until recent years. On the other hand, some of the day to day details of the women's lives leading up to and during the conflict and captivity don't feel right for the period.
June 28, 2021
I have known of this historical incident since about 1964, when I attended a Girl Scout camp at Lake Shetek and we visited the Koch cabin and the monument where the victims are buried. I purchased a copy of Lavina Eastlick's book from our local historical society a few years later. Then, maybe about 15 years ago I met Barbara Britain (who is mentioned in the acknowledgments) who is a great-granddaughter of Charlie Hatch and who filmed a documentary titled "Return to Shetek". Needless to say, the names of the people in this book were very familiar to me. However, until I read this book, they were only one-dimensional, with the only thing I knew about them was their deaths. Now I feel as if I knew them. What a way to bring the characters to life again.
June 5, 2021
Pamela Nowak does a great job of telling the horrific story of the Shetek Massacre that should never be forgotten. Through historical fiction she has developed the personalities of five real women and their families during their move and demise in the Minnesota Territory. Even though I know the history of this event, I still found myself gasping at the brutality of this part of American history. The story telling is brilliant!
December 14, 2020
A Breathtaking Capture
Never Let Go is the best sort of survival story—a true one brought to immediate life.
Pamela Nowak, an historian before she became a novelist, seems to be herself a captive of the Lake Shetek women's survival story. Her decades of on-site research of the places, characters, events, and voices of this intercultural disaster would have made this book an excellent work of scholarship.
Instead, the author devotes herself to a more heart-wrenching and perilous task. She enters history to breathe life into characters. She also questions the events, prejudices, and what went wrong to create this epic cross-cultural conflict and disaster between the Whites and Dakota bands in Minnesota. Through characters’ musings, she also sensitively sheds light on history and long-held prejudices for deeper consideration.
I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep track of so many characters, but Nowak draws each one as a distinct and compelling individual with dreams and heartaches. This is a remarkable feat in such a populated tale. The harrowing conflict that erupted in August of 1862 is made personal to each distinct character in Nowak‘s account. The reader follows one Lake Shetek woman who survived the attack to stagger across the prairie with two small children, one who was left for dead, and three who were taken captive by the Dakota.
The result is a story that completely knocked me off my day’s schedule and kept me captive, too, until the last page. The five intrepid women, skillfully rendered as vivid individuals in my imagination, have made the American frontier more vivid for me. They also made me think about my own hopes, risks, disappointments, and rewards as a woman.
This fine novel will do more than entertain you—it will move, frighten, and engage you with what likely happened in the hearts and minds of frontier women and children as they faced the worst ordeal of their lives.
I highly recommend this novel for historical fiction readers who value research but want it seamlessly integrated with heart-pounding, emotional storytelling.
Never Let Go is the best sort of survival story—a true one brought to immediate life.
Pamela Nowak, an historian before she became a novelist, seems to be herself a captive of the Lake Shetek women's survival story. Her decades of on-site research of the places, characters, events, and voices of this intercultural disaster would have made this book an excellent work of scholarship.
Instead, the author devotes herself to a more heart-wrenching and perilous task. She enters history to breathe life into characters. She also questions the events, prejudices, and what went wrong to create this epic cross-cultural conflict and disaster between the Whites and Dakota bands in Minnesota. Through characters’ musings, she also sensitively sheds light on history and long-held prejudices for deeper consideration.
I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep track of so many characters, but Nowak draws each one as a distinct and compelling individual with dreams and heartaches. This is a remarkable feat in such a populated tale. The harrowing conflict that erupted in August of 1862 is made personal to each distinct character in Nowak‘s account. The reader follows one Lake Shetek woman who survived the attack to stagger across the prairie with two small children, one who was left for dead, and three who were taken captive by the Dakota.
The result is a story that completely knocked me off my day’s schedule and kept me captive, too, until the last page. The five intrepid women, skillfully rendered as vivid individuals in my imagination, have made the American frontier more vivid for me. They also made me think about my own hopes, risks, disappointments, and rewards as a woman.
This fine novel will do more than entertain you—it will move, frighten, and engage you with what likely happened in the hearts and minds of frontier women and children as they faced the worst ordeal of their lives.
I highly recommend this novel for historical fiction readers who value research but want it seamlessly integrated with heart-pounding, emotional storytelling.
June 18, 2020
Dreams are the backdrop of the human spirit; the canvas of future expectations. Without them life spirals at the whim of circumstance and day-to-day survival. Thus, the Lake Shetek women each had their own dreams. Each only wanting loving families and comfortable lives. Yet, each was forced to modify those dreams and expectations with each move they made westward. They became submissive wives to the ever-changing plans of unsettled husbands. Although their backgrounds were different, they each shared a common bond of hope and expectation. Lake Shetek was to be the final chapter, one last fleeting chance at keeping at least a portion of their fading dreams.
In this riveting novel, Pamela Nowak has captured the human spirit in vivid and heart-wrenching detail. The narrative in Never Let Go is wrought with human emotion. The reader can’t help but feel the grief as these women experience everything imaginable from lost children, unrequited love and every-changing plans. The reader can’t help but hope the next page; the next chapter will provide some measure of relief in their struggle to maintain a sense of dignity and family.
Then the Santee Sioux attack and those left alive find what they’d been enduring was only a precursor to what was coming. Their endurance, their strength of character and their desire to protect their children will be tested as never before. Survival at any cost becomes their common mantra.
Pamela Nowak has put to paper a classic story of historical fiction that demands to be read, not only for its historical significance but out of respect and admiration for the women of Lake Shetek. This is a great book! One that gives us an up close and personal . . . and emotional bond . . . with the characters within. The descriptions and narrative are excellent! The pain and tears real. Never Let Go is a must read of the highest degree! -- Phil Mills, Jr., author of Where the Wildflowers Dance
In this riveting novel, Pamela Nowak has captured the human spirit in vivid and heart-wrenching detail. The narrative in Never Let Go is wrought with human emotion. The reader can’t help but feel the grief as these women experience everything imaginable from lost children, unrequited love and every-changing plans. The reader can’t help but hope the next page; the next chapter will provide some measure of relief in their struggle to maintain a sense of dignity and family.
Then the Santee Sioux attack and those left alive find what they’d been enduring was only a precursor to what was coming. Their endurance, their strength of character and their desire to protect their children will be tested as never before. Survival at any cost becomes their common mantra.
Pamela Nowak has put to paper a classic story of historical fiction that demands to be read, not only for its historical significance but out of respect and admiration for the women of Lake Shetek. This is a great book! One that gives us an up close and personal . . . and emotional bond . . . with the characters within. The descriptions and narrative are excellent! The pain and tears real. Never Let Go is a must read of the highest degree! -- Phil Mills, Jr., author of Where the Wildflowers Dance
July 3, 2021
Growing up in the area where this story actually took place, I often wondered what happened to these settlers during this massacre. Though this book is classified as fiction, it's obvious the writer did an incredible amount of research to make the women's stories authentic. She did an amazing job creating believable characters and I truly felt their spirit throughout the pages.
April 7, 2020
This amazing book walks the reader through the Shetek Massacre of the US Dakota War of 1862. Set in Southwestern MN, this historical novel delves into the women who lived through this tragic time. I loved it!
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February 12, 20225 stars. The most compelling historical fiction book I’ve ever read! Many know of the Sioux Uprising in 1862 but this book fills in all the blanks and then some. I thought I knew a bit more than most as I’ve always been interested in Minnesota history, but this book made it clear to me how much I didn’t know. One of the most fascinating books you will read on the migration of Germans to Minnesota and their quest for more and more land parcels further west, sadly into the much uncertain Dakota Territory. The 6 women and all their children, from Lake Shetek, survived under the most gruesome and barbaric conditions. More than once I had to put the book down; just too intense! Now, I am more than interested in reading about places like New Ulm, Dakota Territory, Sioux Falls, Mankato, Hutchinson and more. Certainly visiting New Ulm for a day trip is on our list in the near future.
December 13, 2024
This book is the true story of five women who were homesteading with their families in a remote area of Minnesota when Dakota Indians, starving and also angered over the white settlers presence on their lands decided to attack the pioneer settlements. I found it beyond mind-boggling to see what these men, women and children endured as the Dakotas set out to slaughter them.
I won't add any spoilers and I am well aware of the actions of the US Army in attacking Indians on their native soil. Certainly both groups are guilty of terrible atrocities as the frontier was being settled (the pioneers' version) and unlawfully seized (the tribal version.)
But this particular story, which the author has well documented, is a view of pioneer living--and dying--that all Americans should know about.
I won't add any spoilers and I am well aware of the actions of the US Army in attacking Indians on their native soil. Certainly both groups are guilty of terrible atrocities as the frontier was being settled (the pioneers' version) and unlawfully seized (the tribal version.)
But this particular story, which the author has well documented, is a view of pioneer living--and dying--that all Americans should know about.
August 10, 2023
Not just for those who grew up in the old northwest. I knew nothing about this incident, but definitely appreciated the information. I watched Little House with my girls knowing it was highly censored. This is the real story. She showed both sides of settlers vs. Indians. Well, at least from the point of view of a contemporary white. Both the thoughts of a white woman and the relationship between men and women were clearly presented. Well worth reading!!
September 20, 2021
I found this to be a very interesting read. I have lived in SW Minnesota for almost 40 years, and have visited the "Slaughter Slough" site several times. But I still did not know the complete story. This one, from the women's point of view, gave good perspective and insight as to what it must have been like to move to and live in this area as one of the first white settlers.
July 17, 2021
Never Let Go is a historical novel of the finest kind: based on a true story, beautifully researched, and fictionalized with dialogue and detail that seamlessly works the facts and fiction together. Highly recommended.
July 21, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've lived my whole life near the Lower Sioux Agency in Minnesota and I never knew about the settlers around Lake Shetek being attacked during the Dakota Conflict. Even though this is a novel I feel like I learned alot.
October 16, 2022
Loved this book! Categorized as 'Historical Fiction' but it's very true to the real story. Nearly all of the characters are real and lived through the turbulence. At the end of the book, the author provides a synopsis of each character's life after the events in the West.
July 9, 2021
Excellent
November 18, 2021
Excellent historical fiction…well researched and well written.
November 24, 2021
I thought this was very good, but difficult to read about what they went through.
February 14, 2023
Not PG-13 but sooooo good.
November 25, 2023
As a Tracy graduate, social studies teacher and former Bill Bolin student, I really enjoyed the history and the storytelling. Great job Pamela.
April 29, 2024
Too many characters make the reading experience a bit worse, sometimes making it difficult to tell who is who.
January 17, 2022
Redwood County all read selection. Very interesting but some parts disturbing.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews