All God’s Sparrows

Many people take to heart the notion of charity, or performing helpful deeds, as a prerogative of simply being human. For every one person we learn or hear about, thousands go unsung. Uncovering the life and deeds of Mary Fields, a most unexpected independent woman of the Western Frontier, is the focus of All God’s Sparrows by award-winning author Leslie Budewitz.

Budewitz blends fact and fiction with the skill and aptitude of a master quilter or master chef. Her chronological chapters, or collections of stories as she labels them, will sweep a reader up in a sudden Montana wind to capture time traveling with “Stagecoach Mary,” a feisty, capable figure believed to have been the first Black woman in the US to deliver mail on a Postal Star Route.

“Oh, Lordy child. Ain’t nothing wrong with your mind.” Mary emptied the bowl of her pipe into the brush beside the rock, then tucked it away. “That sun be high in the sky. Time to hitch up the horses and wagon, and  load our supplies.”

Budewitz’s descriptive ability is impeccable. While painting a picture of life on the frontier of the 1800s with its hardships and relationships, she weaves in lesser known information on Mary Fields and her life with the Ursuline sisters and their efforts to establish a school for native Blackfeet  girls at St. Peter’s Mission in Montana. Mary’s role as mail and package carrier places her squarely in the spheres of many interesting settlers whose lives, trials, struggles, and triumphs paint a vivid and realistic picture of life in the West.

Divided into four chapters, or stories, the novel includes a final Historical Notes section. This part is especially helpful for those looking to find the factual morsels that bind this book together.

I highly recommend this book to readers interested in historical fiction, Black history, Black women’s history, or stories of the Old West. Mary Fields will leave an indelible track on your soul thanks to the skillful rendering by author Leslie Budewitz.