Title: Where the Lost WanderAuthor: Amy Harmon
Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Apr. 28, 2020
Genres: Historical Fiction
Pages: 348
Format: Paperback
Source: Amazon Publishing
Book Rating: 10/10
In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.
The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.
But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.
When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually… make peace with who they are.
Review:
Enthralling, moving, and authentic!
Where the Lost Wander is an absorbing story that sweeps you away to 1853 and into the life of Naomi May, a young widow who along with her family embarks on a wagon train journey from St. Joseph, Missouri to California in the hopes of forming a new life. But the prairies are not easily passable, and between the landscape, the elements, disease, and Sioux warriors this adventure is fraught with danger and death from the outset and if not for the help and love of John “Two Feet” Lowry, a mule drive with a foot in both the white man and Pawnee world they would have had little hope for survival.
The writing is eloquent and vivid. The characters are resilient, devoted, and strong. And the plot is a harrowing tale about life, loss, hope, family, grief, culture, hardship, trust, violence, murder, and love.
Overall, Where the Lost Wander is a beautifully written, exceptionally atmospheric novel that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, personalities, and lives of the characters you can’t help but be affected. It is indisputably one of my favourite novels of the year that reminds us of the rugged beauty of this land we call home and a lifestyle that was savage yet harmonic and respectful.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Amy Harmon
Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in eighteen languages, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.
Amy Harmon has written fourteen novels including the USA Today Bestsellers, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as The Law of Moses, Infinity + One and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. Her fantasy novel, The Bird and the Sword, was a Goodreads Book of the Year finalist. Her newest release, What the Wind Knows, is an Amazon charts bestseller.
Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.
