Author: Jane Smiley

In the mid-1800s, the Kansas Territory was just beginning to be settled. Lidie, living in Illinois without a mother, leads an unconventional life, preferring to hunt and wander the countryside over learning any household skills. When her elderly father dies, Lidie’s older sisters worry over what will become of her.

Along comes Thomas Newton who marries Lidie and whisks her off to the Kansas Territory to settle in Lawrence. Thomas, and therefore Lidie, are staunch free-staters and the politics of the time (abolitionists vs. pro-slave) add to the hardships of settling into the frontier. When Thomas is murdered, Lidie sets off on a cross-state journey in search of revenge.

Despite the name, Lidie Newton is a figment of the author’s imagination.