[.ca] West from Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder to ... (ISBN 006024111X)

Much More Than a Collection of Letters:
In addition to Laura's detailed letters to Almanzo describing her adventure, this book includes over thirty photographs featuring Laura, Rose, the Pacific Ocean (ships, beachgoers, etc.), San Francisco, and many scenes of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition including an air show and night-lit festivities. Though in black and white, this pictorial insight into what was behind the letters is wonderful. The book also includes an introduction describing how and where the letters were found and a lovely description of San Francisco at the time of Laura's visit. The letters themselves beautifully showcase the art of letter writing: Along with Laura's vivid descriptions of the technological marvels of the expo, her words are full of charming details to make us smile such as the price of eggs, hat shopping, and her favorite foods of the expo. Laura' expertise in writing compositions, as described in the original Little House books, is very much evident even in these personal letters. This book is a must have for Little House enthusiasts. Also recommended: On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894. J.H. Sweet, author of The Fairy Chronicles, and longtime Little House fan

Interesting:
This is a very sweet and interesting book. Laura is visiting Rose in San Francisco for a few months and writes letters to Manly to fill him in on all she is doing and seeing. The letters are detailed and filled with much information about San Francisco at the time. This is very interesting since it was 1915 and the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition was in progress. I was thrilled to read it as I can't seem to read enough about Laura and her entire family! This is another wonderful and interesting book with the spirited Laura Ingalls Wilder as the star!

Sparkling recollection of San Francisco in 1915:
Thank God this is still in print. Sure, lots of fans of the "Little House" series will find this a charming alternative. But Laura Ingalls Wilder was already an accomplished writer by this time, and her recorded impressions during a family visit to her daughter and son-in-law during the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition was a godsend for anyone who wants to know of San Francisco history. The city was devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire; the PPIE was a chance for the city's residents to show how quickly they could recover and rebuild, and they put their souls into it. The city fairly sparkled for the Exposition's visitors that summer. Wilder's letters home to her husband were an accurate and very personable observance of the city as it was. She described the big events as well as the telling little details that made San Francisco unique among American cities. The photos accompanying her letters add to the authenticity. This is book not just a "niche gem" for Wilder fans, but also for those who love San Francisco, and those who live history. Her record of a vacation to the coast may've seemed to her like trivial family correspondence, but for this native son of Baghdad by the Bay, her letters were a vivid portrait of a time that will not be seen again. This is one of the top ten historical recollections of a major, turn of the century American city.

Lively and colourful letters:
This book compiles a group of wonderful letters written from Laura to Almanzo in 1915 while she was staying with her daughter Rose (now married) in Los Angeles. The letters are long and detailed, since she rather missed him and was also trying to give him the full experience as much as possible. As a result, this book is a feast for both fans of LIW's work and people with an interest in the culture of the period. At this time, Laura is in her forties and has begun writing freelance for at least one magazine, but has not started on her famous Little House books yet. Her daughter is working entirely as a writer, particularly of serialised stories/biographies. Warning: Anyone reading the Rose series by Roger Lea MacBride should leave this book until after they finish, as there are spoilers.

Great details:
West of Home is a series of letters that Laura wrote to Almanzo while she was visitng Rose Wilder Lane in 1915 San Fransisco. Due to the farm, it was decided that Almanzo would stay at home while Laura went out for a long visit with Rose. Laura wrote in great detail of all the happenings. She was Almanzo's eyes in the same way as she was her blind sister Mary's eyes. She described the landscape, the 1915 Expo, Rose's life and work and the great foods of the California area. Rose was homesick for her parents and sent Laura the money for train fare and money home to help with Laura's absence. You can tell by the letters to Almanzo that he had written her about the happenings on the farm. It's too bad they weren't published along with these. You can tell Laura and Almanzo greatly miss each other but Laura is enjoying her time with Rose and Rose's husband Gillette. A wonderful look of San Francisco in the year 1915.