She wasn’t sure about Bathsheba at first; for a young woman she seemed so bold and independent. Miki was disappointed when Bathsheba turned down Gabriel’s offer of marriage. She felt sorry for Gabriel because Bathsheba was so abrupt and insensitive in her refusal. But Miki could see it was too soon—Bathsheba wasn’t ready for marriage. She was wild and free and didn’t want to be tied down by expectations. She was so different from Miki, it was a little hard to relate to her. But as the book went on, Miki began to see that although their ambitions were different, they were, in some ways, alike. Bathsheba wanted more for herself, and Miki did too. She understood Bathsheba’s craving for freedom. And she admired the way Bathsheba forced men to see her as an equal. When Bathsheba inherited fortune and property, she wanted to prove she was smart enough to run a farm, something women didn’t do back in those times. Miki was impressed by the clever way Bathsheba persuaded men to help without ever bowing to them, never submitting. It was the opposite of what Miki had known. In her life—on the farm and in the shop—men had always been dominant. Bathsheba was proof it didn’t have to be that way. The women in this town stood up to their men too—Miki had seen it when they came into the shop—and she knew most of the men respected the women. But it wasn’t like that in Miki’s home: Kurt made sure she knew her place.

Then there was Sergeant Troy, Bathsheba’s lover: the scene in the forest where he whisked his sword all around her while she stood very still. Miki felt the power and tension of Bathsheba’s emotions. She felt the breeze of the sword as it cut the air close to Bathsheba’s skin. She felt the violent aftershock when Sergeant Troy cut off a lock of Bathsheba’s hair with a sword he had told her was blunt. This was Bathsheba’s awakening as a woman, and it moved and unsettled Miki. She was a woman too. But her feelings were all locked inside. Sometimes they knocked in her chest like a hammer.

As she read, Miki came to love Bathsheba and wanted to be like her. She read until she was exhausted and her mind was spinning. She read until she was full of words and ideas, all tumbling over each other.

By the end, she knew that she and Bathsheba had much in common. Miki wanted to go out into the world and meet people too. She wanted to get to know them. Be independent. Fall in love. Make mistakes. But she couldn’t see when that might happen. For now, she would have to be happy with books.