Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon ISBN: 9781542017961
Published by Amazon Publishing on April 28, 2020
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 348
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
Amazon, Bookshop.org, Better World Books, Book Depository
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.
I’m a child of the 80’s, and as such I love a good Oregon Trail story (seriously, all that Little House on the Prairie and playing Oregon Trail for computer class fostered it). And this is definitely a good Oregon Trail story!
Harmon starts the book with a pivotal turning point, then walks us back a few months to the start of the May family’s exodus West. She didn’t need to hook, as the story has plenty of adventure and challenges that kept me turning pages, as well as a delicious slow-burn romance. But it was effective! When the timeline caught up to that first teased moment, I actually went back to re-read it, then continued onward.
Although the action is external to the characters, how they handle each challenge and hardship highlights and supports their growth throughout the novel. I thought each character in this large cast acted realistically (given the era of the setting) and with the complex messiness that humans always have. Compassion was a running theme, but the author doesn’t shy away from anger (justified or not) and grief. While it didn’t make me cry, it did make me empathize with the characters (mostly John and Naomi, by design I assume).
The descriptions themselves show a lot of care was taken in the research, both for historical accuracy of the trail, forts, and historical figured met along the way, and for sensitivity to First Nations tribes depicted within the story. The author notes in her afterward that John is based on her husband’s real ancestor, and I think her respect for the characters portrayed comes through in ensuring each is multi-faceted.
I definitely recommend it for fans of Historical Fiction, and also slow-burn romance that endures some massive hardships. Bonus- nobody died of dysentery.
Read for the ClearUrSht Readathon and Magical Readathon, and because Shannon recommended it.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
YAYY I am so glad you loved this too! I am also a HUGE Oregon Trail nerd (I did a whole post about it once, actually- where I played a whole game bwahha). Great review!