i just finished this book on my ipod. 

In the summer of 1856, three companies of handcarts were outfitted and sent west from Iowa to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. All went well, and they arrived without incident. But two additional companies - one captained by James G. Willie, and the other by Edward Martin - left England late in the season. Whey they arrived at Iowa City, they were long past the time for safe departure across the plains. By the time they left Florence, Nebraska, with still more than a thousand miles to go, it was near the end of August. As if that were not serious enough, President Brigham Young thought that the arrival of the third company ended the migration for that season and ordered the supply wagons back to Salt Lake. Fire of the Covenant is the story of those handcart pioneers and their exodus to the Salt Lake Valley. Gerald Lund has used fictional characters in the actual historical events, making this a story filled with all the elements of great drama - tragedy, triumph, courage, sacrifice, surrender and faith.

all i can say about this is if it were me, i know i would never have been strong enough to live through these months of starvation and freezing blizzards. my faith would have been strong but would my body have been.