Review: None Left to Tell by Noelle W. Ihli

★★★★★

Review:

First, I would like to thank the author, Xpresso Book Tours, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

In a slightly fictionalized account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Noelle W. Ihli has captured the horrors of this little-known atrocity. None Left to Tell is told through the eyes of Lucy, a Mormon convert; Sally, a Native American girl who is the newest, fourth wife of a polygamist; Katrina, a pioneer traveling by wagon from Arkansas to California with her family and over 100 others; and later Nancy, Katrina’s daughter. All of these young women were real individuals in Utah Territory in 1857, and their lives will converge in the most heinous way imaginable.

This book has many trigger warnings that need to be consulted prior to reading. The violence is extremely graphic and painful to read, but I am thankful that Ihli did not soften the brutality. Part of the reason this massacre is not more well known is due to efforts to conceal it and pass the blame, so it is imperative that readers experience the details in full. I highly suggest that readers do not skip the Afterword at the end as it gives further information not covered in the book, including a list of all of the victims by name and age.

None Left to Tell is a heartbreaking tribute to the innocent men, women, and children who died that day in 1857. It is a challenge to the false history that is still perpetuated even today. This heavy, transformative book is a must-read, but it must be approached with caution.

Audience: adult
Trigger warnings: violence; dismemberment; racism; graphic death of children, adults, and animals
Recommended for fans of: history, historical fiction, suspense, horror

Publisher's Synopsis:

Three women, connected by one of the most brutal mass slayings in US history.

Lucy is sick of turning the other cheek. Ten years ago, an anti-Mormon mob drove her family and friends from their homes in Illinois. But now, the tables have turned. Rumor has it, some of those same men are traveling through Utah on their way to California. And this time, Lucy won’t run.

Katrina knew the trek west would be difficult. But she had no idea she’d be walking straight into hell. The young mother of four is prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her family from the violence closing in, but the battle to survive will be more harrowing than anything she can imagine.

Sally has just been “gifted” to a man she barely knows—as his fourth wife. Trapped and lonely, she tries to make the best of her new life. But when her husband insists on joining a group of religious zealots’ plans for revenge, she’s forced to reconsider her loyalties. Even if it means putting her own life on the line.

Based on true events, None Left to Tell is the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Source:

Xpresso Book Tours via NetGalley

©Dynamite Books: October 11, 2024
Edition: Digital ARC
383 pages


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