One Glorious Ambition by Jane Kirkpatrick is a historical fiction novel about Dorothea Dix and her crusade to help others, specifically the mentally ill. Dorothea was born to an abusive father and to a mother who suffered from a mental illness. As a young girl, Dorothea longs to take care of her younger brothers, but when she is fourteen she is sent away to live with relatives in order to be raised properly. Everyone thinks she should find a husband, but Dorothea has no desire to live the life that others think she should. She has a yearning to fulfill her God-given calling and soon she discovers that she has a gift for teaching. Eventually she is reunited with her brothers and after a visit to a prison that houses the mentally ill, Dorothea finds were her heart and her true calling lies. She begins a journey that takes her across the nation, where she meets many people in high authority. She constantly seeks to help those who "are the least of these".
I love reading Historical Fiction and really had high hopes for this book. I was greatly disappointed. The book is divided into two parts. The first part was just okay and I found the second part very dull and it was a chore just to get through. In my opinion, Dorothea Dix's life is not exiting enough to be this large of a novel. It would of been much better if the story was shortened.
***This book was provided to by Waterbrook/Multnomah in exchange for my review.
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