Walk on Earth a Stranger is set during the California Gold Rush in 1848. We follow young Leah Westfall who lives with her Ma and Pa in a small beloved home and a best friend who means the world to her. Leah's life is perfect, except for one dark secret that only her parents and she know about. Leah can sense gold, from deep beneath the earth to flecks of it that can't be seen with the naked eye. Nobody knows what Leah can do until one day Leah comes home and finds that her world has been torn apart, with no other option she decides to take a treacherous journey all the way to California, a place where anyone can become rich from all the gold that's yet to be found.
When I first read the synopsis for this book what intrigued me was the storyline and how it was set during the California Gold Rush era. If I'm honest, I've never really read about this part of History and here was my opportunity. I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up, from start to beginning I couldn't put the book down. The characters were so rich and 3-dimensional, I could see myself in every single one of them. Leah Westfall had to go through so many unneeded obstacles just because she was a girl while on the other hand, you have Jefferson who wasn't even considered a person because he wasn't white.
In my opinion, Rae Carson did a fantastic job when depicting the struggles of Native people and I was really able to wrap my head around how horribly and disgustingly they were treated. I still remember the part when some the Missouri men called them savages and that they all need to be killed. Afterward, when they went hunting, they decided to scare the Native women and children for the fun of it by pretending to run over them with the horses. I was in tears in thinking how this actually happened in history and it's not some made up the storyline that the author thought up.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to every single person out there!
Rating: 5/5
Favorite Quote: "I'd rather be treated with respect than be treated like a lady"-Hampton
