These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories is a bestselling work of historical fiction by Nancy E. Turner that was published in 1998. In college, the author took an interest in genealogical studies and her family’s oral histories of her great-grandmother, a hardworking rancher named Sarah Agnes Prine, and decided to pen a story loosely based on her life. Turner won the Arizona Author of the Year award following the publication of These Is My Words, and the novel was a finalist for the Willa Cather Literary Award. Turner has also published two follow-up novels that chronicle the later years of the fictional Sarah’s life. This guide uses the 1998 Harper Perennial edition of the book, including an author interview, “Good to Set the Record Straight,” included in its back matter.

Content Warning: The novel uses the term “Indians” to refer to Indigenous Americans. The study guide uses the term “Indian” in the summary material to follow the term used in the book; elsewhere, it refers to Indigenous people. The novel also includes episodes of rape and murder.

Plot Summary

These Is My Words centers on protagonist Sarah Prine, a 17-year-old girl in the late 19th century who tells the story of her family’s wagon journey to Arizona Territory via San Angelo, Texas, in her diary. Sarah has no formal education, and the novel’s title reflects her own words; however, her grammar considerably improves as the story develops. The Prine family consists of Sarah, Mama, Papa, and her four brothers, Ernest, Albert, Harland, and Clover. During their journey, Sarah cares for her horse, Rose, improves her writing skills, and takes a keen interest in becoming more “ladylike” and genteel. She also develops a close friendship with a young Quaker woman, Savannah Lawrence, who becomes her sister-in-law. However, accidental deaths, injuries, illness, ambushes, and other privations of the wagon trail compel Sarah to develop a thick skin and a courageous spirit. When Mama has a mental health crisis following the deaths of Papa and Clover, Sarah shoulders the responsibility of driving their wagon, hunting, and cooking for her family.

Along their journey, Sarah finds a wagonload of books, and she bargains with her wagon train guide, cavalryman Captain Jack Elliot, for surplus horses to pull the wagon. He agrees on the condition that she trade books from her wagon for the horses. This frustrates Sarah, and she writes disdainfully in her diary about Elliot, whom she sees as vulgar and coarse. However, when the strain of her family duties and the threat of an “Indian attack” begin to weigh on her, she breaks down to Elliot and cries herself to sleep in his arms. When she awakens, she fears she has ruined herself, but Jack responds with a tenderness that surprises her, assuring her she should not be ashamed of having a good cry or sleeping.

Sarah and Jack stay connected after the Prines leave the wagon train to settle outside Tucson, Arizona; they write to one another often, as Sarah tries to recover one of the books she traded from her wagon. Meanwhile, an old family friend named Jimmy Reed arrives with a herd of horses in Arizona Territory, planning to start a ranch near the Prines’ homestead. After a brief courtship, Sarah and Jimmy marry, and she gives birth to their daughter, April. However, the marriage is unloving and difficult for Sarah, and when Jimmy dies after a riding accident, she cries only for herself. In his last words, Jimmy confesses his love for another woman, which embitters Sarah in the first months of her widowhood. She also learns that Jimmy was unfaithful to her and was a horse thief, which solidifies her resolve to move on from this painful stage in her life.

Following Jimmy’s death, Sarah’s dog leads her to a man injured in a riding accident—Captain Jack Elliot, who is in desperate need of her help. Sarah saves him and nurses him back to health at her ranch, and the two soon begin a tumultuous courtship. During their engagement and even following their marriage, Sarah struggles with his commitment to his military service, which often takes him away from the ranch for long stretches of time. Because of this, in the early days of their relationship, Sarah questions whether Jack loves her. He is an adoring husband, however, and in their first year of marriage, Jack suggests they move to Tucson to be closer to his fort. This way, he will be home more often and April can attend school in town. Sarah assents, and they grow closer in their marriage as a result.

Thus, Sarah spends the latter half of her twenties and all of her thirties raising her and Jack’s children in the officer’s quarters at the Tucson fort; in the years following their marriage, Sarah gives birth to three more children. While raising them is sometimes challenging for her, during these years she grows more familiar with Jack’s work and with several men who fight alongside him. This encourages her acceptance of their lifestyle and of Jack’s military exploits. During their years in town, Harland passes his 12th-grade exams, and April excels in primary school. Sarah also passes her 12th-grade exam, but this accomplishment rings hollow at first, as her obligations to her children prevent her from attending college with Harland. Eventually, however, Sarah accepts that her life choices do not require the end of her self-education.

Harland goes on to become an architect and helps with the design of Sarah and Jack’s new house, which will be built on land Jack purchased outside the fort. The home is large and beautiful, featuring many modern conveniences that are new to Sarah; the structure is so remarkable that, after its completion, a local newspaper runs a story on it. As Sarah and her family are settling into their new home, Ernest comes to visit with his new wife, Felicity, a garish and spoiled woman who deeply annoys Sarah. The two stay at Sarah and Jack’s home for an extended honeymoon, and Felicity presses Sarah about purchasing a portion of the Elliots’ successful cattle ranch. Sarah teaches Felicity a hard lesson about the work of cattle ranching, which horrifies her; she and Ernest leave soon thereafter.

Jack is called away soon after to assist the town marshal in apprehending a gang of train robbers. While he is away, their youngest child, Suzanne, comes down with scarlet fever and dies. When Jack returns, he is devastated, as is Sarah; neither is the same following this loss. In response, Jack quits his military career and takes a new job as Tucson’s fire chief. However, Jack is gravely injured while fighting a fire at the town courthouse. Sarah and their children rush to his side at the hospital, but he passes away, apologizing to Sarah for leaving her to raise the family on her own. Following this overwhelming loss, Sarah decides to move back to her ranch outside town; her sons, Charlie and Gilbert, are excited about the move, but April runs away. She grew up on the ranch during some of Sarah’s most difficult years and claims to hate it there. Sarah has Jack’s and Suzanne’s coffins reinterred at the ranch, and the novel closes as she gazes at the stars and names one for Jack.