~ Inspired by the trailblazing women of the 19th Century who dared to summit Mount Rainier ~

In the devastating aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, nineteen-year-old Anna Gallagher faces considerable pressure to marry well and soon. She has two serious suitors: a well-meaning but condescending doctor, and an evasive fisherman who challenges her mind. But Anna has no intention of giving up her freedom to keep house; she has a dream to reach the summit of Mount Rainier.

Despite her family’s disapproval and her own self-doubt, she secretly trains, raises money for supplies, and buys a train ticket to the base of the mountain. If she succeeds in reaching its icy peak, she could pioneer the way for women mountaineers; but it’s a tall task and there’s much at risk—including the heart of a man who just might love her as an equal. On the journey, Anna will face glaciers, avalanches, and frozen temperatures, all without knowing if she even has a family or a future to return to.

In Sight of the Mountain is a charming coming-of-age story, but it also casts the reader’s gaze upon issues of colonialism, class, and women’s far-too-narrow options.

Review:

Fascinating, engaging, and rich!

In Sight of the Mountain is a heartwarming, atmospheric tale set in Seattle during the late 1880s that takes you into the life of Anna Gallagher, a nineteen-year-old-girl who yearns to be more than just a wife and mother, and who finds through her unusual friendship with a young Duwamish woman the excitement she craves and the mettle she needs to train and pursue her greatest wish, to become the first woman ever to successfully summit the treacherous Mount Rainier. 

The prose is evocative and fluid. The characters are feisty, driven, and independent. And the compelling, well-paced plot is an adventurous journey filled with familial drama, heartbreak, life, loss, courage, self-discovery, hope, friendship, romance, and love.

Overall, In Sight of the Mountain is an absorbing, well-written novel by McGillen that showcases her passion and knowledge for Pacific Northwest history and highlights humanities ability to dream, strive, conquer, endure, and still seek love in times of political upheaval, natural disasters, extreme prejudice, and social oppression.

This novel is available now.

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