The disappearance/leaving of a husband was the ultimate betrayal and shame at this time in history. Watching your husband turn around as he always did and walk away from you and expecting him to return at the end of the day but not returning is what the "wife" has to endure in SEVEN LOCKS.

SEVEN LOCKS is a heart wrenching story of a wife and her two children trying to survive the hardships of living on a farm in the Catskill Mountains in the 1700's with the Revolutionary War on the horizon and with no help and no support of the townspeople. The townspeople wanted nothing to do with the wife, whom I never heard a name mentioned, because they believe she killed her husband. Having no name is in itself a sad story.

The descriptions are detailed and intriguing...you will feel the terror and the pain of the characters and the emotional struggle of the children and their mother. You will be able to see through the author's vivid descriptions their mud-drenched yard, their mud-drenched clothes, their crowded barn with animals in it, the fields and valleys, and the frightened, lost children as they live out their meager days and years.

The characters are very well developed along with the story. You will hate some of the characters, be curious about them, and wonder about their lives and motives. You will mostly feel their despair in their difficult lives but the willingness to move on.

The book shares the amazing courage of a woman left to do her work as well as a man's work. It sends a message about struggle and survival at the basest level and a struggle fought alone. It isn't a light book, but your interest will not wane because of the subject matter and because of the author's storytelling skills and elegant, effective prose.

You will want to find the mystery of the title of the book and interpret a sentence from page 60: "But the future is a book with seven locks."

SEVEN LOCKS is a book you will have to dissect and read slowly because it will make you ponder. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher with no compensation in exchange for an honest review.