Beyond the Bougainvillea by Dolores Durando

"She found her place in a turbulent era of deep passions, heartbreaking sacrifices, and grand dreams.

When scholarly, smart Mary Margaret is sixteen, her father marries her off to a drunken neighbor in return for a tract of land. The year is 1924, and Mary Margaret's motherless childhood has already been hard as a farm girl on the desolate prairies of North Dakota. Abused and helpless, the new Mrs. "Marge" Garrity seems destined for a tragic fate.

But Marge is determined to make her life count, no matter what. Her escape from her brutal marriage takes her to California, where she struggles to survive the Great Depression and soon answers the lure of the state's untamed northern half. There, embraced by the rough-and-ready people who built the great Ruck-a-chucky Dam on the American River, she begins to find her true mission in life and the possibility for love and happiness with an Army Corp engineer of Cherokee Indian descent.

This vivid saga of one woman's life in the early decades of a turbulent century is told from the heart of a true storyteller in the grand tradition of women's sagas.

Author Dolores Durando knows Marge's world very well. She grew up ninety years ago on the plains of North Dakota." ~~ From Goodreads.com

The main character of the book, Marge, has to endure so much hardship in her life, starting with her mother dying when she was young. Even with all she has to go through, she manages to keep a fairly positive attitude. She always lends a hand to others and is very generous even when she has so little herself. She encounters more than her share of 'bad' people and things in her life but she also has a lot of 'good' people that are there for her and help her along the way. 

I enjoyed this book because I like reading about strong women that can overcome all that is put in their way and still make the best of things.  The author did seem to jump around a bit so sometimes it was hard to follow her train of thought but once I was able to get past that, I was able to get into the story and became immersed in the character's lives.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for my honest opinion. http://www.bellbridgebooks.com/