Coville, Bruce. Fortune's Journey. NY: Bridge Water Paperbacks, 1997. 255 pages. (Historical Fiction)
This story is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Fortune and her traveling theater group called The Plunkett’s Players that venture west during the Gold Rush in 1853. The group consists of Aaron, a seventeen-year-old actor with a big attitude; Walter, the tallest and most kind hearted man Fortune has ever met; Mr. Patchett, the artistic director for The Plunkett’s Players; Edmund Wallach who had been abandoned by another troupe and then picked up by The Plunkett’s Players; and Mrs. Watson, a widowed woman with a big secret. This story takes place all the way from the East Coast to the shining city of San Francisco. Fortune must get the troupe to San Francisco safely, but on the way she encounters love with a boy named Jamie who eventually joins the troupe. Fortune and the troupe join a wagon train that is going to San Francisco. Near the end of the book, the troupe faces a horrible disease. Everyone except Fortune and Mr. Patchett gets this disease. Amazingly everyone except for one person beats the odds against one of the most deadly diseases of that time. But who doesn’t survive? You will find out if you read this wonderful book.
This story is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Fortune and her traveling theater group called The Plunkett’s Players that venture west during the Gold Rush in 1853. The group consists of Aaron, a seventeen-year-old actor with a big attitude; Walter, the tallest and most kind hearted man Fortune has ever met; Mr. Patchett, the artistic director for The Plunkett’s Players; Edmund Wallach who had been abandoned by another troupe and then picked up by The Plunkett’s Players; and Mrs. Watson, a widowed woman with a big secret. This story takes place all the way from the East Coast to the shining city of San Francisco. Fortune must get the troupe to San Francisco safely, but on the way she encounters love with a boy named Jamie who eventually joins the troupe. Fortune and the troupe join a wagon train that is going to San Francisco. Near the end of the book, the troupe faces a horrible disease. Everyone except Fortune and Mr. Patchett gets this disease. Amazingly everyone except for one person beats the odds against one of the most deadly diseases of that time. But who doesn’t survive? You will find out if you read this wonderful book.
If I were to give this book a couple words to describe it they would be “mind-catcher.” This is a book that will make you want to read it.
Reviewed by: FizzyJunior31
