Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles in 1949 and was educated at both Vassar and the University of Iowa. She attended the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa and studied Medieval literature. She especially likes Scandinavian literature and went to Iceland on a Fulbright early in her career.

Smiley has written several novels, including A Thousand Acres, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. Her goal was to write novels in the four big genres: epic, tragedy, comedy, and romance. Her epic was The Greenlanders, an Icelandic saga. A Thousand Acres was a tragedy closely associated with King Lear. Her comedy was Moo, a novel about academic life. The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton is a romance or as Smiley says, "an anti-romance" since Lidie's life does not end typically romantic.

Common themes in Smiley's work are families and their problems, ideas of freedom and violence, and learning to deal with the past. Also, she like Lidie, loves horses and her newest novel, Horse Heaven, is all about horseracing.

The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley is a rousing novel about one young woman's time spent in Kansas Territory in the 1850's. Lidie Harkness, from Quincy, Illinois, is twenty years old when she quickly marries and joins Thomas Newton, a New England abolitionist, as he passes through her hometown on his way west. Unbenownst to her, however, is the twelve Sharp rifles they carry in their luggage boxes and Lidie has no idea of the violence and hatred awaiting them in Kansas Territory.

Lidie, though, is perfect for this adventure as she describes herself as more inclined to ride a horse astride, walk for miles without tiring, swim the width of a river, hook and catch fish, shoot a rifle, and write a good letter. She soon learns that all of these talents are highly necessary in her new home. One female traveling companion makes the astute observation about Lidie that she is a young woman of uncommon self-possession and fortitude. She'll need these qualities in the months ahead.

Lydie and Thomas face many trials in Lawrence, Kansas. They join other New England abolitionists there and soon suffer the threats of slaveholding Missourians who viciously clash with the Free Staters moving into K.T. They also endure other typical pioneer hardships like harsh weather, starvation, isolation, and bandits.

When violence hits Lidie's home, she confronts even tougher decisions and travels. Disguising herself as a reporter she chases down ruthless killers, eventually ending up on a plantation where she fights for the Abolitionist cause again.

The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton is an exciting and enthralling story about an independent and intelligent woman struggling with issues of freedom, not only for a nation, but for herself. It takes readers into the landscapes of an expanding America and as Lidie reinvents herself on her journey, we see a nation also on the brink of change over slavery and independence.

• Aboard the Ida Marie heading for St. Louis, a fellow female passenger makes this observation to Lidie: the adventure is for the men, my dear, that's the way of it here in the west. How was the pioneer experience so different for men and women?
• How can the town of Lawrence, Kansas Territory, where Thomas and Lidie settle, be seen as a precursor to the Civil War?
• Life for women in the west was so different from that of their mothers and sisters back east. How was Lidie's status in K.T. so unique from her sisters' roles in Illinois?
• Thomas and Lidie hardly knew each other before heading westward. What are her thoughts about her new husband and on marriage in general?
• What are Lidie's observations about Abolitionism and her eventual role in it after she encounters slaves in Missouri?
• Think about a past adventure in your own life? How can or do adventures change us?

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