Third Girl from the Left

by Ann Turner

The independent, rebellious Sarah Adams Goodhue has different things in mind for herself. She will not spend all her life in Dewborne, Maine, and die with the epitaph "Dearly beloved drudge, gone home."

When she reads an ad for a wife to live on a Montana cattle ranch, she dashes off a reply before she can lose her courage. Only a few weeks later, in the cold of 1885, Sarah makes the long journey west by train, and then by bone-rattling stagecoach ride to Dillman, Montana, clutching the photograph of her intended husband, Alex T. Proud.

But the man who meets her, marries her, and takes her through a freezing storm to his ranch cabin is not quite the same Alex as the one in the photograph. Shocked and betrayed, Sarah nonetheless decides to make the best of things. She can't go home again - not in defeat, admitting a mistake.

153 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Ann Turner, also known and published as Ann Warren Turner, is a children's author and a poet.
Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She likes to think of a character in a specific time and place in American history and then tell a story about that character so that readers today can know what it was like to live long ago.
Ann Turner says that stories choose her, rather than the other way around: "I often feel as if I am walking along quietly, minding my own business, when a story creeps up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. 'Tell me, show me, write me!' it whispers in my ear. And if I don't tell that story, it wakes me up in the morning, shakes me out of my favorite afternoon nap, and insists upon being told."

(from: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai...)

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly never would have found this book, the title wouldn't have grabbed me from the shelf. I'm processing books for our school mobile book bus that runs in the summer, and this was one of the books that was donated. It was discarded from our local library.
That being said, I really liked it. It's a different kind of romance story, in a good way. It's an older book, so you may not be able to find it, but if you do give it a go, it's a pretty quick read.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I did though feel like it just abruptly ended. I would’ve loved a second one or for the boom to continue how she manages to run the ranch.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah hates the hard life in Maine and even though she is only 18, she knows no one will ever want to marry her because she is so outspoken and full of pranks. As a result she answers an add to become a mail order bride in Montana. I really got caught up in Sarah's life and enjoyed the story and wondered at her strength. The man she marries is not what she expected--nor is she what he expected. Truthfully told and well written.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Montanan, I had to read this. Truthfully, I didn't buy the whole bit about the blizzards continuing into the middle of May, frankly. Also, the summary of the book gave everything away which kind of ruined it for me. But I mostly liked the book overall.