The Widow Nash

by Jamie Harrison

It is New York, 1904, and Dulcy Remfrey, despite an idiosyncratic, traveling childhood, faces the predictable life of a woman of the time. But all that changes when her eccentric father returns from his expedition to Africa without any of the proceeds from the sale of a gold mine. It seems he's lost his mind along with the money, and Dulcy's obsessive ex-fiance (and her father's business partner) insists she come to Seattle to decipher her father's cryptic notebooks, which may hold clues to the missing funds. When her father dies unexpectedly, taking the truth with him, Dulcy looks at her future, finds it unbearable, and somewhere in the northern Rockies, disappears from the train bringing her father's body home. Is it possible to disappear from your old life and create another? Dulcy travels the West, reading stories about her own death, and finds a small Montana town where she's reborn as Mrs. Nash, a wealthy young widow, free from the burden of family. But her old life won't let go so easily, and soon her ex-fiance is on her trail, threatening the new life she is so eager to create. The Widow Nash is a riveting narrative, filled with a colorful cast of characters, timeless themes, and great set pieces--Europe in summer, New York in fall, Africa in winter, and the lively, unforgettable town of Livingston, Montana. This is a book that surprises with its twists and turns, ribald sensibility, and rich historical details. And in Dulcy, Jamie Harrison has created an indelible heroine sure to capture the hearts of readers everywhere.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Historical, Book Club, Audiobook, Novels

375 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2017

About the author

Jamie Harrison is the author of six novels: The Center of Everything (January 2021, Counterpoint), The Widow Nash (2017), and the four Jules Clement/Blue Deer mysteries, slated to be reissued soon by Counterpoint Press: The Edge of the Crazies, Going Local, An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence, and Blue Deer Thaw. She was awarded the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Book Award for The Widow Nash, and was a finalist for the High Plains Book Award.

The Center of Everything (2021) was a January pick by Oprah Magazine, People Magazine, and Indie Next, with a Rave status at Book Marks: https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the...

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Widow Nash by Jamie Harrison is a 2017 Counterpoint publication.

Captivating and absorbing historical fiction.

Dulcy left home after breaking things off with her fiancé, Victor, who also happened to be her father’s business partner.

But, when she receives a phone call explaining her father, Walton, is in very bad health and has also misplaced a very large sum of money, she has no choice but to return home.

Although she must face the distasteful and creepy Victor, Dulcy cares for her father and searches through his ‘disaster’ journals for clues to the whereabouts of the missing money.

However, Walton, commits suicide before Dulcy’s research has produced any results. Not long after Walton dies, Dulcy vanishes, and is presumed dead, another probable victim of suicide.

But, in truth, Dulcy took advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to reinvent herself. She does this by settling into the Elite Hotel in Livingston, Montana, presenting herself to the residents there as ‘Mrs. Nash’, a wealthy widow.

From there Dulcy occasionally reminisces about her travels and adventures with her father, a self -made man with an obsession with earthquakes, and a penchant for the ladies, which eventually caught up with him, when he contracted syphilis.

These flashbacks paint a complex father and daughter relationship. It was an unconventional upbringing, which provided Dulcy with experiences no other girl her age would have hoped for, but also came at a high cost to her in many other ways.

But, in her new life, Dulcy escapes the dangerous Victor, takes a lover, and for the first time in her life appears to have found her niche. She blossoms and begins to really take command of her life, until her past comes calling…

This is such a good story. There are some difficult passages sprinkled throughout, and has its share of dark undertones, but it is also very fascinating and interesting. This author has a real talent for bringing to life vivid and unique characterizations.

The dialogue and prose is exceptional, as are the lavish details, descriptions and landscapes. I traveled around a bit and absorbed pieces of history, while getting to know Dulcy, a strong-willed and determined woman who works to escape a most untenable situation and grabs her chance to live life on her own terms.

There are a few distractions in the narrative, especially with the 'disaster' journal entries, which were interesting in the beginning, but, the interruptions they brought could be exasperating at times. I understand why the author felt it was important incorporate them, but the timing or pacing was thrown off a bit because of it.

There’s suspense, adventure, drama and intrigue, romance, poignancy, and irony, and rip -roaring tale of the wild west. I don’t know if I have ever read historical fiction quite like this.

This is a new author for me, but I’m impressed with her writing style, and will certainly add more of her novels to my reading list.

I highly recommend this novel for fans of historical fiction, or to anyone who enjoys rich characters, strong female leads, and marvelous storytelling.

4 stars

[J.L. Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She liked the idea of people more than the reality."



Jamie Harrison's The Widow Nash features a strong-willed heroine who decides to distance herself from an ex-fiancé by disappearing and creating a new life for herself. There are questions about whether it is possible to create a new life. However, the mystery of her father's missing fortune and his cryptic notebooks continue to call her. This is rich and thoughtful historical fiction that evokes a picture of Livingston, Montana in the early 20th century. Currently, it is free in the Audible Plus catalog.



Me with Jamie Harrison at the High Plains Book Festival in Billings, Montana. I was lucky enough to talk with her about her work and about her father, Jim Harrison.

[Margitte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read 60%. Did not work for me. Love the ending.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book for the second time, and, yep, it's amazing. I don't think I can even count all the ways it captivated and entertained me. I am so sorry to be finished with Dulcy and Lewis and Walton and Samuel and Margaret and Irving. Hell, I'm missing them all already.

[Ginny Pennekamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Theodore Dreiser and Edith Wharton, but feel like all the great books in those styles were written in and about a very long time ago... then THE WIDOW NASH is a book for you.

Set in the American West instead of the big cities of Chicago or New York, THE WIDOW NASH follows a young woman from her kept youth to her free adulthood. It has seriously big drama - murders! rapes! suicides! unwanted pregnancies! beatings! theft! illness! -- incredibly big passions -- should I marry the man who won't stop stalking me, or will I find a man I can love on my own terms?!? -- globe-trotting -- where did my father leave his lost millions???? -- mystery, suspense -- can anyone truly escape the pull of their past and move into a big, bright future? -- and just about everything else under the sun.

Jamie Harrison is also a sharp and insightful writer, his characters feel real and contemporary, and once you get started, you won't be able to put this book down.

[Cammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I am glad that is over. There were many times when I considered giving up and not finishing The Widow Nash, but I just had to know what happened with Dulcy. She was never what I disliked about the book; often there were just too many unnecessary words (and I like words) between the interesting parts.
I totally understand Dulcy's desire to disappear and become someone else in a different place; however at the beginning of the 1900s, her options were very limited. She'd lived an interesting life traveling with her father though he'd been controlling (but not nearly as controlling as her ex-fiance Victor). While her escape was flawed, I have to give her credit for having the courage to follow through with it, and she seemed to have pulled it off until she got too comfortable, in my opinion. I even considered quitting the book during this period of Dulcy's "comfortable" new life; every day read about like the last and I was bored. "The West was a place to disappear or a place to be reborn. Beginnings disappear here, but endings are dramatic. People come here to remake ruin or to drop into emptiness." This line felt prescient and I knew that I needed to read The Widow Nash all the way to the end.
Up until the final chapter, The Widow Nash was only getting two stars from me. The final chapter was worth reading to the end and somewhat redeemed the book in my mind because I'm giving it three stars. We remember beginnings and endings and that ending is memorable.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish this book. Read half which was about the illness and death of a father and his effect on several people including his daughter, Dulcy. To escape the life she could not face, she reinvents herself as Maria Nash. The plot had a chance to pick up the interest and the pace, but it continued with interspersing the present with past travels with her father, including disaster after disaster. I tried skipping those blasts of the past until...I could no longer. I did view the satisfying ending and felt I missed nothing. I never could slow my mind to the pace.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review here. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.

Dulcy Remfrey's father, Walton, has started to lose his mind, and in addition, a large fortune. His business partner (who is also Dulcy's brutal ex-fiance) requests Dulcy come to Seattle to see if she can figure out what he has done with his money by reading through the twelve eccentric notebooks her father has kept over the years. When Walton dies and Dulcy's ex, Victor, grows suspicious that she may not be sharing all of the information with him.

While bringing her father's body home, Dulcy makes the decision to disappear, telling no one of her plans to run away and start a new life somewhere else in hopes to avoid having to marry Victor.

This is a rich and interesting story about a young woman in the early 20th century who takes her life in her own hands and makes the decision to choose herself rather than succumbing to what is expected of her. The reader may not always agree with Dulcy's actions, but I cannot imagine a reader who wouldn't be entranced by her story. Jamie Harrison (daughter of Jim Harrison) has written a solid novel that covers a great deal of ground. A historical novel that touches on a little bit of romance, a nice dose of mystery, and a subtle nod at early 20th-century writers whose female characters weren't always socially acceptably strong.

Highly recommend.

[Patricia Lawler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish it. Slow going.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not engage with this novel.

[Caitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally finished this book after having to drag myself through it. I kept thinking that things would pick up, but after I got about halfway through I finally realized that it was never going to pick up. I should have cut my losses and stopped reading, but I hate to leave a book unfinished. All of the elements of an intriguing story are there, but unfortunately it was not strung together in a way that could keep my attention. Too much extra information and side stories about characters who I could not care less about. The last 40 pages were the best part of the book and I love the way it ended. Too bad the rest was a bore.

[ParisianIrish · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think people will either love this or hate it. I belong to the latter category. This book is like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the author takes a very interesting plot and murders it with page after page of dull and incessant ramblings. The plot line on the face of things is very interesting, the authors early on describe the main character Dulcy and explore the let’s say very complicated relationships with the men in her life. Her father Walton is for me, the most interesting character in the book while Victor, her father’s business partner, ex-fiancée and sexual abuser is the archetype callous villain. But despite this interesting mix of complex personalities, adventure and mystery, the reader is treated to page after page of sheer doggery. The writing is sad and full of misery and strewn with annoying grammar mistakes which increase the pain for the reader. Sometimes authors attempt to write deep and meaningful prose, the author tries this to the detriment of story I feel.

Another major gripe I had was that the setting was supposed to be in the 1900’s but there is a clear pre-great depression feel off the book. Overall, the book was a chore to finish, but was relieved when I did so.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure exactly how to describe this richly narrated romp through the wild west of the early 20th century, but it's got just about everything you could possibly ask for in a novel--history, mystery, love, travel, friendship, family, and more than a little disaster. Dulcy has a good reason to disappear from her life. Her dead father's partner is sure she is the keeper of funds her father owed him for the sale of a mine in South Africa which he "lost" as he was losing his mind from complications of syphilis. And where would be a better place to reinvent yourself than a small Montana town with a somewhat inhospitable climate and its own share of others with secrets and other lives they have stepped out of for one reason or another. The town is awash in characters and Dulcy is soon socializing with some, enduring others, and, in her new (and made up) role as a widow, enjoying all of the entertainments available, from bizarre murders and raging drunks to gossip and the movement of people through the hotel where she is staying. Of course, she'll never really shake her past, but as she warily waits to see if it will catch up with her, she explores her own needs, her memories, and finds comfort in the company of some new friends.

[Paltia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a rough time getting started on this book. However, before too long I looked up and noticed hours had ( gone by and I was halfway through. Dulcy, a woman alone, is kept captive by men, including her syphilitic dying father, in a hotel owned by her ex fiancée in Seattle. Harrison does a wonderful job describing the various climatic conditions that Dulcy inhabits as a captive, a fugitive, and a woman at peace. Initially Dulcy sees herself as invisible compared to her sister yet to me she isn't anything but diminished by Carrie - her sister. Eventually, she decides to change her identity and "hide out" in Livingston, Montana as the widow Nash. She encounters a community of wonderful oddballs, caring friends, and an occasional enemy. The story is told in the early 1900s and still it feels contemporary in many ways. An interesting historical read of a most visible heroine.

[Jerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow to start, but great writing and a look at life in Montana in the early 1900s. This is about a young woman dealing with the death of her eccentric father and running from an abusive ex-fiancé. There is a lot about her deceased father and his prolonged illness with syphilis. Also, a lot about people suffering from malaria contracted in foreign wars. Thank goodness for modern medicine! A good look at a strong, intelligent woman trying to escape her past.

[Tom Buske · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent plot is spoiled by a style that is frequently a slog.

[Catherine (The Gilmore Guide to Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Call me vulgar, but when a book opens with a young woman, a father who’s dying of syphilis, missing money and a murderous ex-fiancé, I’m all in. It’s the early 1900s, the young woman is twenty-four-year-old Dulcy (short of Leda Cordelia Dulcinea) and her father, Walton Remfrey, is an eccentric but brilliant inventor and engineer with a penchant for women (hence the syphilis) and a love of travel. He partners with Victor, Dulcy’s ex-fiancé in a series of African gold mines, but when he returns to the United States after the sale of the mines there is no money and he is dying. Dulcy goes to Seattle to be with her father before he dies and to try and determine what has happened to over a million dollars, even though it means being near her sociopathic ex—who is even more unhinged at the loss of so much of his money. This is just the beginning of The Widow Nash by Jamie Harrison.

In short order, Walton dies without ever becoming lucid. Dulcy is allowed to take his body back East to be buried, but she already knows that Victor’s obsession with both her and the money means she is expected to return…and soon. She decides faking her death is the best way to get her freedom and begin her own search for the money. The only clue she has is a series of journals her father kept, which she managed to steal from Victor. That, plus access to other bank accounts he set up during the years they traveled together, is enough for her to establish herself in a small town in Montana and try and unravel her father’s mystery.

The rest of this review is available at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://wp.me/p2B7gG-2nr

[Joseph Reynolds · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel has been a disaster for me as a reader. It's one of those novels that you go 'this could be a nice meaty read' and you get sucked in. The scene-setting is excellent, the characters are interesting although possibly a shade cliche. Then, around page 40 I had a slight dread creep up. Nothing happening. Am I getting conned here? I keep reading, thinking, well, things are bound to happen, I'm just a reader-chondriac. Page 50. Nothing happening. Lots of fluff. Fluff fluff fluff. Ok. I'll give it a little more. Page 60 nothing of note. Start skimming. Page 65, mmm. Page 70, mmm. Ok, the Dad dies. But that was coming anyway. Page 80, mmm. Page 88 I said enough. Shame. As Elmore Leonard said 'All those parts the readers skim over? Throw those out.' Jamie Harrison take note.

Readers, don't get conned like me!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the unconventional lives created for fictional heroines, I don’t know if anyone has conjured up anything as dangerously madcap as Dulcy Remfrey’s life in Jamie Harrison’s The Widow Nash. As the daughter of a syphilitic geologist/miner, Dulcy grew up crisscrossing the globe as her father searched for precious minerals and cures. His death in Seattle is just the start of her own deadly adventure...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss for review consideration.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down! It has adventure, treasure hunting, tragedy, love and a cast of complex characters to admire and loathe. The heroine, Dulcey, has moxy and intelligence which keeps her alive though a suspenseful saga. For anyone who has spent time in Southwest Montana near Yellowstone National Park, the descriptions of the weather and landscape will resonate and for those who haven't, it will make you want to travel there to see for yourself. And if that wasn't enough, the food descriptions in this novel are tantalizing. I'm hoping there will be a Dulcinea Cookbook as an afterword in the next edition.

[Lynn Meland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captured me from beginning to end! I wish I were a better writer so that I could properly express my response to reading The Widow Nash. The characters are intelligent and real. I felt pulled back in time. The story is so creative - not your typical fluffy love story. But there is love... and hate... and well... just read it! This is a must read!

[Anita Lynch-Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's not to like ? A crazy father with tertiary syphilis , a missing fortune, an abusive ex-fiance and clues to a mystery. I found the beginning a bit of a slog but it really picked up midway .

[Michelle Olms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Phair]

DNF- Gave up after 70pp as it was just not grabbing me. Rambling, overly full of descriptions and lists of words. Tedious. Confusing. Might try another day but then again, life is too short.

[Elizabeth G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a debut novel from a writer to watch for. It is a fast-paced, action-filled novel, set with a distinct terroir of a small wind-swept town in the west in the early 1900's. A full cast of 8-10 characters are easy to keep straight because they are all so quirky. All are profane; most with some kind of secret past they want to hide. There's a compelling love story at the center that is lightly sketched with delicate but telling details. Lot's of seriously bad guys who meet varied, largely gruesome ends. This is book that took me to another place and time. Strong central female character- a key to happy reading for me.

[Akanke]

Disclosure of Material Connection
I received a complimentary copy of the Kindle edition of this book from the publisher during a Goodreads Giveaway. I was not required to provide a review or to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. This information is being disclosed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials."

I’m not sure how I feel about this book...
At times the prose was simply beautiful

[BookAddict · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one for me to review. It is extraordinarily well written, the characters are astounding and the plot impeccable. However, for the most part I found this to be more the story of Walton, her father, rather than Dulcy up until the last 25% of the book. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but it wasn’t what I expected. It’s terribly slow in places and then picks up speed racing to the end. Not quite 4 stars for me but more than 3

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 3.5 read

Thoughts coming shortly

[Kayla Wimer]

dnf, absolutely no thank you

[Cathee Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this book from a Goodreads giveaway. Would recommend to people who love historical fiction.