Turkey walk
I started and finished this book today: The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr. I didn't remember having rated it before, though Goodreads had my rating at three stars. Today I reread it and upgraded to four stars. I cried: something about having more life experience.
Simon Green has blood relatives, but they don't cotton to him much. He doesn't want to stay with them, either. He's got enough book learning to get by in the 1850s, but his real ability is in caring for birds. Turkeys in Missouri aren't worth much, but turkeys in Denver are rare and wonderful eating. So he borrows some money from the schoolteacher and sets out walking the turkeys 800 miles west. He hires a wagon driver; along the way they pick up a couple more people.
The whole trip is a lot of problem solving and learning about people, good and bad. I like Simon. I like the people he attracts to join his team. He likes them; he has no pride about his own abilities but he insists they must contribute to the team, "find their talent", as his schoolteacher taught him to do. They follow him, because he has a quest, an objective, and he both needs and wants their help. He is a leader, because he determines their direction, but also because he cares about his team members, human and animal. He goes out of his way to help them. He’s humble, willing to learn, and hardworking.
I want them to succeed. I want them to grow and learn together, because they choose to work together. It will be good.
It's the formation of found family, people who choose to stick together. I cried because I've felt that despair, that loneliness, wanting to drown my sorrows; there's hope. They found hope.