I thought this was a fascinating read about Olive Oatman. Her family decided to travel westward after being counseled to do so by a self-proclaimed prophet, James Brewster. The religion was called Brewsterism and was a spin-off of Mormonism. There were a lot of politics surrounding religion during this timeframe, which influenced a lot of people’s decisions. Varney, Philip (1994). Arizona Ghost Towns and Mining Camps. Arizona Department of Transportation, State of Arizona. p.1905. ISBN 978-0-916179-44-1.

a b c d e f g McLeary, Sherrie S.; McGinty, Brian (June 12, 2010). "Fairchild, Olive Ann Oatman". Texas State Historical Association . Retrieved August 5, 2022. I liked that the timeline of events was manly centered around the disaster. There was a small Act to show the reader the romance between Elizabeth and Danny. I liked Danny and Elizabeth as individuals but the romance was - eh. It was clichéd and rushed, but also not the main point of the story.I wasn't sure about this going in--after all, a book about an uncultured girl being thrown into finishing school? How many of these awkward fish-out-of-water stories do we need? Anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber wrote in an article about the Oatman captivity: "The Mohaves always told her she could go to the white settlements when she pleased but they dared not go with her, fearing they might be punished for having kept a white woman so long among them, nor did they dare to let it be known that she was among them". [13] And so she became the “woman with the blue tattoo.” The Victorian dress they immediately tried to cover her with couldn’t hide the tattoo on her chin. However, what not everyone knew was that her arms and legs also had striking tattoos. But they never saw the light of the Colorado sun again.

In 1865 she married a rich rancher. He only asked of her one thing: to forget her past. To leave the lectures behind and put on a veil to cover the tattoo. She did so, letting time go by like that, drop by drop. Year after year. It is actually a shame that she had to return to the white society, a society that was harsh towards those who stood up for Native Americans, who fantasized about her sexual life with them, and who considered her a freak since the Mojave Indians had put a blue tattoo on her chin. I can't imagine that any of her life had been that great for her. Olive Oatman was a 14-year-old member of a Mormon splinter group. Her family was killed by Yavapai en route between Tucson and Yuma in 1851, and she and her younger sister were first enslaved by the Yavapai, then sold to the Mohave. The Mohave raised them as members of the tribe; her sister died, but Olive was returned to white society after five years with the two Indian tribes.Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle (October 1998). "The Captive and Her Editor: The Ciphering of Olive Oatman and Royal B. Stratton". Prospects. 23: 171–192. doi: 10.1017/S0361233300006311. Lawrence, Deborah; Lawrence, Jon (2012). Violent Encounters: Interviews on Western Massacres. University of Oklahoma Press. pp.27–28. ISBN 978-0-8061-8434-0.