Back to the Prairie by Melissa Gilbert

 Title:  Back to the Prairie

Author:  Melissa Gilbert

Narrated by:  Melissa Gilbert

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 1 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

 Were you a fan of the Little House on the Prairie TV series that aired in the 1970s and 1980s?  I loved the TV and the book series.  I think I have them memorized.  When I had an opportunity to review Melissa Gilbert’s new memoir, I jumped at the chance.

 For those that don’t know, Melissa Gilbert played Laura Ingalls Wilder on the Little House on the Prairie TV Show as a child and has been in a variety of roles since that time.  This memoir is really an update to her first memoir, Prairie Tale that came out in 2009.  I have not read Prairie Tale, but I still enjoyed Back to the Prairie.  In fact, it made me want read Prairie Tale.

 This memoir covers her marriage to Timothy Busfield (West Wing, Thirtysomething amongst other projects).  She moves with Timothy first to rural Michigan and then they buy and fix up a cottage in the Catskill Mountains of New York, right before COVID hit.  I loved how Melissa and Timothy worked together to find supplies, create dinners, and enjoy a slowed down life.  What especially cracked me off was when they watched Little House on the Prairie as Timothy had never seen it before!  They called their cottage, “the cabbage” and I loved how they observed wildlife and learned how to raise chickens. 

 Melissa Gilbert narrates this audiobook and I loved it.  It sounded like you were listening to stories from your friend, Melissa Gilbert.  Her husband Timothy Busfield narrated the foreword and that was entertaining as well.