Aftermath of the Rhodesian war. This memoir sympathetically looks at the driftwood of a father's belatedly communicated experience, post-migratory reality of the daughter. It explores the psychological after-effects of war and the issues of gender after the hyper-masculine culture of Rhodesia began to deteriorate.

Seventeen-year-old Lovisa King leaves Missouri for the Oregon Territory in 1845. A Heart for Any Fate, based on the history of a company of real pioneers, tells the story of the King family, whose careful plans are challenged by the harsh, unforeseen realities of overland travel. The family makes the unfortunate decision to follow guide Stephen Meek, who leads them into blistering weather, drought, and treacherous river crossings along a shortcut that becomes known as the Terrible Trail.

Like Tom, the hyena could be seen, soon lapping up the traces of the morning's spoils, ingesting the sweet carrion through its lulling glands, along the track it follows. Tom absorbed the air of the explorers -- Sucked it down, ingested it. Until he was but a fractured remnant of the Western world -- Still part Africa, not yet civil, holy. He had no real home, not any more, yet he followed a dream, that will of an apparition; dream of a man with a raised and pointed spear. "That other life is not for you , Tom. " "Here you might breathe..." the warm alcohol releases fears and dreams. " ...If you must breathe at all" ...

The Rhodesian war situation produced certain schizoid states.

Irreverant poems on history, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, nationalist psychology and the past.

As bullets ring and bombs are dropped, children watch—mostly from the sidelines, but occasionally in the direct line of fire. Unaware of the political issues or power struggles behind the battle, all they know are the human, emotional consequences of this thing called war. This collection examines all of war’s implications for young people—from those caught in the line of fire to the children of the veterans of wars long past.

Critically acclaimed author Jennifer Armstrong brings together 12 powerful voices in young people's literature to explore the realities of war from a child's perspective. The settings vary widely—the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, an attempted coup in Venezuela, the American Civil War, crisis in the Middle East—but the effects are largely the same. In war, no life is ever left untouched. In war, lives are shattered.


From the Hardcover edition.

A lyrical novel about a day in the life of a young pioneer girl growing up on the Dakota prairie is now available in a Knopf Paperback edition. This widely praised and beautifully crafted tale deftly evokes the vast expanse of the American West, the hardships faced by pioneer families, and the strong bonds of family and community.