The View from Half Dome

I delightful story of a young girl going on the most incredible journey to Yosemite. Her life has been filled with trauma, but at the park nature nurtures her back to health. Having been to Yosemite myself, I adored the immersive descriptions of the plants, animals and scenery. I really felt transported back there.
The characters are lovingly crafted, and I can see this appealing to a large audience. An absorbing read

An interesting story of a young girl escaping tragedy in San Francisco and running to Yosemite. Mid 1930s, and her brother is part of the CCC there. She stays with Enid Michaels and her husband (interesting couple who were friends of Ansel Adams and his wife) and slowly learns to study nature. I enjoyed this one, and the touches of real people adds a lot too. Felt like I would have enjoyed it more if a young teen instead of 60, but otherwise would highly recommend.

Book Review - The View From Half Dome by Jill Caugherty

I was kindly sent this ARC by @Netgalley and Black Rose Writing in exchange for an honest review.

In 1934 San Francisco, Isabel dreams of escaping her life of poverty and invents an imaginary island with her little sister. After a tragic event, she leaves her mother and flees to Yosemite where her brother is serving with the CCC and spends a summer with the inspirational Mrs Michael and her husband. Enid Michael is the only female ranger naturalist in the park and Isabel begins to long to live this life permanently.

I initially wanted to read this book due to my love of Yosemite. I was transported instantly in those chapters back to all the places I love. The mist trail, Vernal Falls, Camp Curry and of course Half Dome. The writer describes in such detail the beautiful plants and wildlife and all given a human touch by Enid who liked to use female pronouns for flora and fauna. It was so evocative of the park and it’s inhabitants and the history behind things was fascinating and well researched.

But this book is so much more than that! In the chapters prior to Isabel arriving at Yosemite the characters and storyline gripped me. It was heartbreaking and I could really feel our protagonist’s sadness and daily struggles and her desire for escape and redemption.

The story kept my interest the whole way through and the ending was good and not too ‘and they all lived happily ever after’ which I did have a slight fear may happen.

This book is for everyone that likes a well told story of family and challenges with a twist of nature and adventure thrown in. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now thinking about my next trip to SF and Yosemite.

4 Stars

With The View from Half Dome, Jill Caugherty wrote a compelling story about a teenage girl in the 1930s going on the journey of a lifetime. Be prepared to laugh, to hope, to cry, and to dream with her. And to start planning your own move to Yosemite National Park.

Isabel is a teenage girl living in 1930s San Francisco. Her father died in an accident on the docks a few months before the story starts, which caused Isabel and her family to live in poverty. Trying to escape real life, she and her younger sister Audrey invent the imaginary ‘Isle of Castaways’, but after yet another tragic experience, Isabel wants nothing more than to flee San Francisco and all the bad memories it holds. She leaves in the early hours of the morning, leaving nothing but a note, and gets on her way to Yosemite National Park. James, her older brother, works there, and she hopes to stay with him for a while. In a turn of events, she gets to stay with Enid Michael and her husband Charles over the summer, who live in the park permanently. Enid is the park’s first and only female ranger-naturalist and takes Isabel under her wing. It is because of her that Isabel starts to dream of life at Yosemite.

The way Caugherty paints a vivid picture of Yosemite and how she describes ‘days in the life’ make you want to drop everything and move there yourself: to experience Enid’s flower garden, to fill your water bottle in the Merced river after hiking for a few hours, to learn all about the plants and the birds and the mountains. You want to live a simple life with simple meals, like the Michaels, fill your days with taking children on hikes, tour with families who visit for the first time, and write an article about the park’s squirrels, so you could escape the busy life you have even for just a few days. “You don’t realize what a burden modern things can be until you no longer have them,” Enid says to Isabel. And even though The View from Half Dome takes place in the 1930s, that still rings true today. I can definitely understand Isabel’s desire to escape and make Yosemite her new home.

What happens after the pivotal point is not what I had expected, but that doesn’t matter when Isabel’s passion and determination are described and portrayed the way Caughery managed to. So overall, this novel is a beautiful coming-of-age story about a teenage girl wanting to find her life’s purpose. Caugherty accomplishes to masterfully incorporate the scenery, the plants, and the animals of Yosemite to make it feel like you are transported there the second you start reading. It has quickly become a favorite of mine, and I will definitely be rereading it once it officially releases!

The View from Half Dome is certainly compelling, and you feel truly invested in the story. I loved Caugherty's story telling - the writing style flowed relatively well and made for an interesting read.

We follow Isabel, a teenage girl from San Francisco in the 1930s. Having recently lost her father, Isabel's family are struggling. Eventually, further tragedy pushes Isabel to the point she needs to leave, and we travel with her as she begins her journey to Yosemite National Park. Here she hopes to reunite with her older brother. With the rules meaning she cannot stay with him, Isabel meets Enid (the parks only female ranger) and her husband - who live in the park permanently. They offer her a home for the summer and so begins Isabel's fascination with Yosemite and everything within it. I was surprised by the way the plot turned, but not in a way that made me feel it was a bad choice.

This is a well researched, beautifully written coming-of-age story. Caugherty's writing is incredibly descriptive and puts you right in the middle of Yosemite in the 30s, experiencing everything right alongside Isabel. The book kept me engaged throughout, and I felt Isabel's emotions as my own. The characters are well-developed, and well-written.

Really loved this, think it'll be a perfect read for those who like the sound of a unique coming of age story set in the 1930s.

This novel, set in 1930s San Francisco and Yosemite, was a lovely coming of age story about Isabel, a young girl who despite tragedy, wanted to forge a better life for herself. The descriptions of Yosemite painted a beautiful picture that brought the reader along as Isabel was discovering natures beauty and healing powers for the first time. Isabel fell in love with the majestic beauty of Yosemite and met some inspiring role models along the way who showed her that she could be anyone she wanted to be, despite her tragic beginnings. I also enjoyed that some of the characters in the story were real life people such as famed photographer Ansel Adams. Thank you NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This historical novel about the mighty Yosemite National Park starts off in a place about as far as possible from the park’s natural beauty. The story begins in 1934 in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco when the area was a blighted slum during the Great Depression.

The heroine of this tale is teenager Isabel Dickinson who lives—or actually, barely survives—there with her mother and little sister Audrey. Her father is dead, leaving Isabel’s mother to fend for herself. She works as a maid and gets money each month from her oldest child, her son James who is working for the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, in Yosemite.

Isabel is bright but she’s not immune to the temptations of being an impulsive teenager. Her desire to spend a few moments kissing a boy in her class plays a part in the traffic death of her younger sister. Haunted by guilt, Isabel cannot bear to tell her mother or anyone where she was or what she was doing when she should have been watching Audrey.

The guilt eats away at Isabel and that, along with her mother’s pestering and world-weary attitude, prompts Isabel to run away from home. Trying to fulfill Audrey’s wish to visit older brother James, Isabel heads for Yosemite. After caging a ride, she arrives and meets up with James.

Isabel has no plan and doesn’t even know if she’ll even be able to spend one night at the park. By the time she gets there, she is down to her last dollar bill.

But in the shadow of Yosemite’s great beauty, Isabel’s luck finally changes. She meets an older woman named Mrs. Michael who is based on an actual person—Enid Michael, who was Yosemite’s first female naturalist. In real life and in the novel, Enid lives in the park with her husband Charles, the assistant postmaster. Caugherty populates her novel with other real-life characters as well, including photographer Ansel Adams.

Mrs. Michael learns that Isabel is a good typist and even a better editor after the naturalist has her type up some handwritten notes. The older woman allows Isabel to move into their small apartment for a few days, but Isabel proves so useful that the stay stretches into the entire summer.

Like any tourist who sees Yosemite for the first time, Isabel is awed by the park, which becomes a major character in the book. Mrs. Michael introduces her to the wildlife and wild-flowers and schools her about the natural world around them.

Little by little, the magic of the park overtakes Isabel’s soul. One morning, as she works in the garden and feels the breeze and hears the nearby songbirds, she realizes that she is feeling . . . good. “It took her a minute,” author Caugherty writes, “to identify the tranquil sensation as peace.”

Living amid the spectacular beauty of the park, it becomes more and more unimaginable for Isabel to even consider returning to the squalid conditions of her mother’s apartment. And it’s not only the conditions. Mrs. Michael is the opposite of Isabel’s mother, who has let life get the better of her. Mrs. Michael gives Isabel hope that there is another way to live, even for a poor girl from the slums.

“Mrs. Michael said, ‘I’ve learned you have to act like what you want to become. Convince yourself first, and others will believe it, too,’” the author writes.

Older brother James is supportive but encourages Isabel to return to San Francisco. She won’t hear of it but then, their mother writes that she’s lost her job and needs help. Isabel is caught between doing what’s right and doing what she wants.

This novel is engaging although parts can feel a bit melodramatic. Still, the essential story of this poor girl getting a reprieve from the slums to live among the wonders of nature is a winning formula and has enough plot to keep the reader rooting for Isabel. And of course, given the title, there is a long hike where Isabel scales one of Yosemite’ssignature peaks—Half Dome.

It doesn’t hurt that the great photographer Ansel Adams is along for the ride. The actual characters help ground the story.

I really enjoyed this novel. I liked the intrigue and love for nature that the author discussed. It took me a while to finish because it did not necessarily grab my attention while reading. I would get distracted but I think if I would've picked up the book in another instance I would've been focused. I enjoyed the characters and the relationships between the characters specifically the siblings.