Desert Wife

by Hilda Faunce, Frank Waters (Introduction)

"This is the compelling narrative of the wife of an Indian trader in the desert wilderness of the Navajos before World War I. No other book about life at such trading posts equals its revealing portrayal of the land and the people, and its implication of the racial differences still confronting us today."—From the introduction by Frank Waters

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting memoir of four years spent running a Trading Post in the Navajo Nation from 1914 to 1918. This book was originally published in 1928 and describes a very different world.

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilda Faunce lived at an Indian trading post on an Arizona reservation roughly during the years of the first World War. In this book she traces her journey with her husband from Oregon to Arizona in a wagon pulled by two horses across the still desolate North and Southwest and then their life running the trading post in northern Arizona.

Although she had some of the prejudices of the time, she grew to have respect and friendship with the Navajo or deneh while living there. She records the intimate life of the Navajo that she was allowed to see and the story of the life of traders living in a remote settlement. She dispensed medical care and observed medicine men. during the Spanish flu she had to helplessly watch as entire families were killed and her own husband fell ill.

From quiet moments of contentment and to dramatic moments of mortal danger, Hilda Faunce has a voice that speaks to the reader of the colorful desert and ancients lives of the first Americans. This is a first hand account of the lives of native Americans as seen by a woman of the 20th century.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the story!

A compilation of letters written to a cousin details the four years of living on the Navajo reservation in Arizona in 1914. Quite a unique perspective and an enjoyable read.

[Peggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story a husband and wife running a trading post on the Navajo reservation from 1914-1918. Very enlightening and well written, it is much more interesting than other memoirs I have read. Faunce tells in honest prose--no gilding the truth--about the remote and challenging life they lived, exclusively with Indians, most of whom did not speak English. The insights she shares into their complex culture are refreshing, portraying them as they were without romanticizing. She authentically admired her neighbors, making good friends among them but not turning a blind eye to the shortcomings of others. Her descriptions of the smallpox and flu epidemics are heartbreaking. Readers who insist on absolute "PC" might be offended by some of the language, but those who remember that this is written from the perspective of an early 20th century white woman will read it with grace and enjoyment.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2012
Easy reading and informative. It sounds like she had no problem learning the Navajo language.

2025
Well-worth reading. Yes, in several places her word choices hurt, but this was written over 100 years ago, so her comments are an accurate representation of attitudes. For example, at times she refers to the Navajos as 'heathens,' but overall she liked the people. She concludes:
I had not realized that we had woven so many threads of friendship that it hurt to break them. I stopped often to think that in all my life these four years were the most isolated and the most colorful.

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page-turner, captivating story about the husband/wife team who operated a trading post on the Navajo Reservation 1914-1918. I had no idea trading posts still operated in the early decades of the 20th century nor exactly the function of a trading post, and I found the relationships with and among the native Americans interesting and challenging. Ken, the husband, was a man of few words but full of wisdom which appeared at critical times.

[Ronald Schoedel III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased at a national park in the desert of Arizona, this is a fascinating glimpse into the life of an “Indian trader” and wife and the Navajo Indians they served. Seeing the author’s opinion of the Navajo mature over the course of her years on the reservation was nice, as she lived and wrote in a time period when most Americans considered the people of native tribes “noble savages” at best.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed a different point of view from the early 1900's. I found her observations & experiences interesting. It helped me reflect on my own life & how we live.

[Jane Considine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me awhile to get into this book, mimicking the way it took the author Hilda Faunce to adapt to her new life living in a trading post in the remote area of Navajo Arizona near (20 miles away) the town of Chin Lee (now Chinle) near the entrance to Canyon de Chelly. It's a marvel that she challenge, especially since her husband (who seemed to be very emotionally distant) had lived in the arid Southwest in his early years, and knew exactly what he was getting into when he signed up for the job. By the last half of the book (based on letters she wrote to a cousin) she could communicate with the men and women who came to the trading post, she came to respect their tight-knit community and the role of the elders and "medicine men," the art of the sand-painters and the women who wove the rugs and blankets that they brought to trade for cans of tomatoes and peaches, tobacco, calico, velvet, etc. Faunce also describes the outbreak of smallpox and the flu epidemic of 1917-1918, and the news of WWI and the possible recruitment of Navajo men to serve in the military. This was a great book and holds a special place in the history of Arizona.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sorry when this book ended. Maybe I’ve been reading too much fiction, but this non-fiction account of a woman’s life for four years on a Navajo reservation 1914-1918 was like a breath of fresh air. I wished for a second book telling of her life after she and her husband moved to their new farm.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing account of life in the desert on the Navajo nation. Set in the early 1900s the realities of this scarce and dangerous life seem possible even today. Would love to know if “life on the farm” was as they anticipated when they left the reservation in 1918.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lover of historical journals and diaries with an equivalent passion for the Navajo people, I truly enjoyed this book. The language and beliefs in this book are the normal for the time period, so those with a "politically correct" mindset need not even open the cover. I'll leave it at that.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir of the owners of a trading post in the Navajo nation - fascinating.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it. Gives one a feel for those times in that specific, remote geographic area and culture.

[Nancy Mumpton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting book about 4 years spent in Navajo Country by a woman and her husband running a store to make money to buy a farm. Very interesting learning about Navajo life.

[Tom Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. Life on a Navajo Reservation was, to put it mildly, difficult. The writing style is fine. The author isn't as good as Thomas Hardy, but then many aren't. Still, for a pioneer woman, her writing is quite good.

As I read the book, I wondered what the author's background was. Online, I found a family history. Read on if you are interested . . . this isn't really a spoiler revelation since the book isn't a mystery . . . Hilda's mother was a physician from New York who had resettled in Colorado with her husband, a designer/artist. Hilda was born in 1897, making her 27 in 1914. Her husband was about 20 years older than she. I don't know what education she had but in light of her parent's training, she was likely well read.

[Carol Wakefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life on an Indian trading post in Arizona 1914 to 1918 is told about by the wife of the trader. That is the largest part of the book but equally compelling is their journey by wagon to Navajo lands from Oregon. This first hand account is put together from letters written by Hilda faunce at the time.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While living on the Navajo Reservation, Hilda Faunce wrote letters to her cousin, Ruth Wattles. Those letters have grown into the book "Desert Wife". The letters were first published in Harper's Magazine, then Little, Brown and Company published them into a book in in 1928, reprinted in 1934. I found this book in the Little Free Library.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I would have never picked up on my own, but we read it for our book club and everyone loved it, including me! True tales of a white couple running a trading post in the AZ desert in the early 1900s. Extremely interesting stories about Navajo life.

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would definately take the work "compelling" out of the review of this book. It did give good insight to the life in that time period and to some of the traits of the indians. I enjoyed learning those things. However, the book was flat and a boring overall.

[Melissa Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read 1/3 of the way through this book and I could not do it any more. Typically, it is a rule for me to finish a book no matter what. This time I did not have the patience to do so. I'm sure it is a well written book, but the plot was too slow for me to actually get into the story line.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desert, Indians and so much more.

What more can I say about a wonderful book. I have only heard about pawned silver a few years ago. This wonderful book explains it through the eyes of store owners.

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited letters of a woman who moved west with her husband to a 1910 Arizona Indian Trading Post. Interesting and insightful look at such a life.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic. An engaging narrative of life on an Indian trading post on the Arizona/New Mexico border in the years prior to WWI.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating memoir of the wife of the owner of a trading post in the Navajo area around 4 corners back in the 30's or so.

[Nranger7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great account of life as a trader on the Navajo reservation.

[Kathy Schulstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh - didn't finish - not enough action

[David Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book, yet a window into interaction between young couple who buy,sell & trade with the Navajos thru there small trading post, at time funny and at times serious.