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Tiana
Tiana - bk462; Serie Piper; Lucia St. Clair Robson; pocket_book; 2002
722 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
77 people are currently reading
970 people want to read
About the author
Lucia St. Clair Robson
17 books212 followersLucia St. Clair Robson has been a Peace Corps Volunteer, a teacher and a librarian. Her first historical novel, RIDE THE WIND, appeared on the New York Times best seller list, and in 1983 received the Golden Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Since then she has written seven more novels set in a variety of times and places. Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Few novelists working today have a better grasp of early American history than Robson.""
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
July 6, 2025
Walk in My Soul
by Lucia St. Clair Robson
ps i thought i would give you a copy of the poem your book walk in my soul inspired. although my reviews of books do not go back this far, i read Lucia St Clair Robsons book in high school, the following is a poem i wrote in responce to the story, part of an assingment for ap american history, and my old boy friend there gave me the first line...
Echo of the trail of tears
Struggle down the white man's path,
surrendering our spirit,
so many days we tread the line,
our lives are lost, hopelessly,
we have no more arrows;
we have no more food;
while treading on the black dirt,
our footsteps the mark of pain.
so many of us have died,
from disease the white man brought,
while soldiers parade up and down the line,
Our women are weary,
Our children, starving,
Our shaman are dying
and the winter is hard.
Each day another grave is dug,
as we lay down our brothers,
In silence with no song sung.
we were taken form our home with out
a blanket or food.
the soldier armed with guns and papers
steal all that is left behind.
kept in holding areas with disease and death.
Not knowing if tomorrow would bring quenching air.
Our bellies starving, our men sesert us to find homes in the wilderness.
or are secreted away by whiskey and wicked men.
In desolation we arrive to our new land;
in fear that this too would be taken away.
By the two tounged white man.
Theresa Hulongbayan and Michael ciccone
by Lucia St. Clair Robson
ps i thought i would give you a copy of the poem your book walk in my soul inspired. although my reviews of books do not go back this far, i read Lucia St Clair Robsons book in high school, the following is a poem i wrote in responce to the story, part of an assingment for ap american history, and my old boy friend there gave me the first line...
Echo of the trail of tears
Struggle down the white man's path,
surrendering our spirit,
so many days we tread the line,
our lives are lost, hopelessly,
we have no more arrows;
we have no more food;
while treading on the black dirt,
our footsteps the mark of pain.
so many of us have died,
from disease the white man brought,
while soldiers parade up and down the line,
Our women are weary,
Our children, starving,
Our shaman are dying
and the winter is hard.
Each day another grave is dug,
as we lay down our brothers,
In silence with no song sung.
we were taken form our home with out
a blanket or food.
the soldier armed with guns and papers
steal all that is left behind.
kept in holding areas with disease and death.
Not knowing if tomorrow would bring quenching air.
Our bellies starving, our men sesert us to find homes in the wilderness.
or are secreted away by whiskey and wicked men.
In desolation we arrive to our new land;
in fear that this too would be taken away.
By the two tounged white man.
Theresa Hulongbayan and Michael ciccone
December 31, 2024
Lucia St Clair Robson was a masterful writer and storyteller. Today she’s over 80 and no longer writes.
She generally wrote about a Native American heroine and immerses you in the culture and natural environment so well you really feel a part of it.
Given the amount of detail, she clearly undertook much in depth research on each of the tribes and individuals she’s written about. Taking place in the nineteenth century when Americans were killing them and seizing their land, the stories are ultimately tragic and violent at times.
This novel is a fictionalised account of the life of Tiana, a Cherokee woman who learned Cherokee 'magic' and administered to the sick.
Tiana’s family are coerced to leave their land in Tennessee and relocated to Arkansas, and then moved on to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma. The book ends with her accompanying the Cherokees forced to march over a thousand miles from Georgia to Indian Territory during winter. Several thousand died en route. This last part does feel rushed as if the author was keen to finish the novel.
A large part of the story is also devoted to Sam Houston, who as a teenager lived with the Cherokee and was accepted by them. After a failed career in Washington, he returns to them and lives with Tiana but finally leaves her to pursue a life in Texas where he became its first President.
She generally wrote about a Native American heroine and immerses you in the culture and natural environment so well you really feel a part of it.
Given the amount of detail, she clearly undertook much in depth research on each of the tribes and individuals she’s written about. Taking place in the nineteenth century when Americans were killing them and seizing their land, the stories are ultimately tragic and violent at times.
This novel is a fictionalised account of the life of Tiana, a Cherokee woman who learned Cherokee 'magic' and administered to the sick.
Tiana’s family are coerced to leave their land in Tennessee and relocated to Arkansas, and then moved on to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma. The book ends with her accompanying the Cherokees forced to march over a thousand miles from Georgia to Indian Territory during winter. Several thousand died en route. This last part does feel rushed as if the author was keen to finish the novel.
A large part of the story is also devoted to Sam Houston, who as a teenager lived with the Cherokee and was accepted by them. After a failed career in Washington, he returns to them and lives with Tiana but finally leaves her to pursue a life in Texas where he became its first President.
December 12, 2015
I read this book so long ago that I don't even remember when, but I never forgot the book. Lucia St Clair Robson's stories are a mixture of historical fact & fiction and are amazing. Tiana Rogers lived and breathed, loved, suffered and died while I read this story, and she has remained with me through the years.
August 28, 2012
I was in the library one day looking for an audio book and stumbled upon this story. I didn't get it right away and kept looking but couldn't find anything that I was interested in. This had caught my eye as it was a story about Native American life right before they were forced onto reservations. This author is incredible. She certainly did her research on these tribes she creates this story around. I learned so much about the inter workings of tribal life. It was amazing. I even cryed at the end of this story. It is a historical romance but it's much more than that. It's a must read if you like this genre. Amazing author!
April 18, 2019
A history book can provide, topics, words, and the atrocities. A book like this can take those things and stick the reader in the action.
I came into this skeptical of the fanciful book cover and hoping the author didn't make unrealistic, magical Natives. What I did find was a goldmine of history made into something like real life, happening around me. I could not put this book down. There are forgotten traditions, old words, culture contrast and loss of culture, little details that makes reader laugh, cry, and boil with anger.
It dealt with omniscient point of view quite well, and it needed to. There were a lot of characters that contributed to the overall mood and understanding, and to try and keep each one memorable on its own would be a tremendous task. My only gripe is purely technical in nature. The filter words "could feel/hear/see" can bog down a read. In this case the story was so good I didn't notice too much.
I came into this skeptical of the fanciful book cover and hoping the author didn't make unrealistic, magical Natives. What I did find was a goldmine of history made into something like real life, happening around me. I could not put this book down. There are forgotten traditions, old words, culture contrast and loss of culture, little details that makes reader laugh, cry, and boil with anger.
It dealt with omniscient point of view quite well, and it needed to. There were a lot of characters that contributed to the overall mood and understanding, and to try and keep each one memorable on its own would be a tremendous task. My only gripe is purely technical in nature. The filter words "could feel/hear/see" can bog down a read. In this case the story was so good I didn't notice too much.
November 5, 2022
Its about multiple characters I read this book in Dutch (Netherland) : The main characters are coffee a black slave, Tiana a Cherokee girl that is partly a child in the first half of the book and gradually becomes an adult till the end. Raaf (Sam Houston) (Raven probably in the American English version) A white boy that becomes part of the Cherokee tribe through a cherokee Friend named James or Jones cant remember that he meets in his village at the leather shop. Stamhoofd Grondeekhoorn of the cherokees (Chief ground Squirrel) Sam learns Cherokee and becomes a important part of the Cherokees by going through a maturity process of wich they cut into his back and arms and paint it white and than he needs to sit in a cold lake and sit in cold wind. He plays stickball wich is the Cherokee predecessor of Canadian lacrosse mixed with rugby and wrestling and mma like fighting in wich there are barerly any rules but is still for fun and is probably allot of fun :D. Than he meets Jelena wich later on becomes girlfriend of coffee and gets severely traumatised in a gruesome manner at a slave house later on. Sam listens to the different Cherokee folklore and genesis stories the chief tells to the children.
He uses the smoke houses and learns how to hunt and build in the Cherokee way. He is split into 2 worlds the world of his white family and his tribal family and needs to help his mom who is very strict and bitter but loves him dearly in a silent way. Tiana by the way needs to go to christian school and is the most playful and stubborn child she never accepts christianity and cannot sympatise with her teacher because she sees how much the religion is a burden by not being open and peaceful. Later on Sam joins the governments army that fights different rebellious tribes who try to keep there land and who fight the tribes that the government is semi helpful with but not really they actually give them alcohol and smallpox blankets through not making rules and regulations against scum people who give this to them they also take their land and take all rights away of the natives while giving whites the opportunity to illegally move to the native indian lands. Sam goes into the army with to native indian friends because allot of natives actually want to be a warrior and belief in the usa government. Together with the Scots and French and british who seperated from the united kingdom they brutally destroy a creek indian camp that is barricaded with trees and artificial hills. They break bones of the last ones who are alive and mutilate and burn them alive no one is spared except some women and children but does that run away through the river or forested hills also get killed. Sam gets severly injured by a broken leg and arms multiple gunshots. He survives near death and gets recognized by the army leader andrew jackson.
In this book you have multiple famous historic people : Sequouia inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet, Osceola a war hero, Tecumseh a sort of prophet rebellious leader that creates a earthquake in the book that destroys multiple villages and round houses, Andrew Jackson the worthless hateful army general and president of usa that made the native americans move away from their homeland, Washington Irving a writer, De Tocqueville he has a very interesting conversation with the main character ( One of the important people who started the French Revolution) etc. What I didnt like about this book is that Tiana later on gets into a relationship with Raaf for no clear reason she hates him through the whole book because he doesnt fit in the tribe and he makes her arque with herself allot as a child but later she finds out this hate is just a misunderstood feeling she had with herself and it turns out she loves him. I just dont like that the writer needed to put so much sex scenes in the book I mean they dont go into detail to much but it almost feels like a fetiszisation after the second or third time it feels like filling in the gaps like you see with allot of action movies. I think its still written well but she could have put more interesting dialogue between the two characters instead of this. Sam becomes an alcoholic and looses all his cool that he did had in the first half of the book maybe because of the war I dont know its still makes it boring to read through his parts because he has become this fearful angry character that rapes some rich girl in Andrew Jacksons house and afterwards there is zero respect towards the rich girl character by not including her anymore I know she is less important but it would be very interesting to see how she would live on afterwards. I like the part where he has a speech at a parliamentary building in Washington because he needs to divorce his wife later on this is written very well. What I also like about the writer is that she is not afraid to show her librarian background and that she created a dense book that could even use more information in my opinion but still made it more palatable than if she left this out I think I would hardly have gotten through the book if it was only for the story but the book would have been half the size. What I like about this writer is that she sometimes also takes weird turns because she wants to show different part of the indigenous world next to the christian world in that Tiana confronts the nearby village priest wich was a very good choice to do for the book because it shows how much was going on at the time. I also liked her first husband and child story allot more he was allot cooler than Sam amd together with Tiana they build a village for her and her tribe and friends from the Osage tribe of the bear family. I think it was a good choice to kill off her child because it showed how much gruesomeness happened at that time not only the filthy hateful white people but also some of the broken revenge seeking rebellious tribal peoples that lost everything did wrong it gave a very realistic picture of how vulnerable life was back than if you where a native and wanted to live like the old days you needed to fight constantly to keep your head above water and its sadly still the case this needs to change in my opinion native people should get states instead of territories and that you have a few states in wich native people decide with native customs. So the Osage peoples where at war with the Cherokees and Tianas girlfriend and friend got killed by their own tribe because it was seen as betrayal when they became friends with Tiana because the Cherokees killed off the Osages because of the silent us goverments pressure. Iiked when Coffee killed the slave owner this was very justified eventho he killed him in a blinded manner im happy the writer put this in the book. I liked the justified aggresive parts more than the sex parts because the sex parts where like physical therapy and than in sexual way and I just had the characters in my head in that they didnt align well Tiana was a a strong powerfull woman throughout the book but Sam became a perverted and broken man wich he didnt deserve also I did not see this transition as realistic but more as a coping mechanism of the writer because the indigenous people had it worse. The end of the book is also well done I got sentimental with Tiana but not with Sam the drunk war man.
He uses the smoke houses and learns how to hunt and build in the Cherokee way. He is split into 2 worlds the world of his white family and his tribal family and needs to help his mom who is very strict and bitter but loves him dearly in a silent way. Tiana by the way needs to go to christian school and is the most playful and stubborn child she never accepts christianity and cannot sympatise with her teacher because she sees how much the religion is a burden by not being open and peaceful. Later on Sam joins the governments army that fights different rebellious tribes who try to keep there land and who fight the tribes that the government is semi helpful with but not really they actually give them alcohol and smallpox blankets through not making rules and regulations against scum people who give this to them they also take their land and take all rights away of the natives while giving whites the opportunity to illegally move to the native indian lands. Sam goes into the army with to native indian friends because allot of natives actually want to be a warrior and belief in the usa government. Together with the Scots and French and british who seperated from the united kingdom they brutally destroy a creek indian camp that is barricaded with trees and artificial hills. They break bones of the last ones who are alive and mutilate and burn them alive no one is spared except some women and children but does that run away through the river or forested hills also get killed. Sam gets severly injured by a broken leg and arms multiple gunshots. He survives near death and gets recognized by the army leader andrew jackson.
In this book you have multiple famous historic people : Sequouia inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet, Osceola a war hero, Tecumseh a sort of prophet rebellious leader that creates a earthquake in the book that destroys multiple villages and round houses, Andrew Jackson the worthless hateful army general and president of usa that made the native americans move away from their homeland, Washington Irving a writer, De Tocqueville he has a very interesting conversation with the main character ( One of the important people who started the French Revolution) etc. What I didnt like about this book is that Tiana later on gets into a relationship with Raaf for no clear reason she hates him through the whole book because he doesnt fit in the tribe and he makes her arque with herself allot as a child but later she finds out this hate is just a misunderstood feeling she had with herself and it turns out she loves him. I just dont like that the writer needed to put so much sex scenes in the book I mean they dont go into detail to much but it almost feels like a fetiszisation after the second or third time it feels like filling in the gaps like you see with allot of action movies. I think its still written well but she could have put more interesting dialogue between the two characters instead of this. Sam becomes an alcoholic and looses all his cool that he did had in the first half of the book maybe because of the war I dont know its still makes it boring to read through his parts because he has become this fearful angry character that rapes some rich girl in Andrew Jacksons house and afterwards there is zero respect towards the rich girl character by not including her anymore I know she is less important but it would be very interesting to see how she would live on afterwards. I like the part where he has a speech at a parliamentary building in Washington because he needs to divorce his wife later on this is written very well. What I also like about the writer is that she is not afraid to show her librarian background and that she created a dense book that could even use more information in my opinion but still made it more palatable than if she left this out I think I would hardly have gotten through the book if it was only for the story but the book would have been half the size. What I like about this writer is that she sometimes also takes weird turns because she wants to show different part of the indigenous world next to the christian world in that Tiana confronts the nearby village priest wich was a very good choice to do for the book because it shows how much was going on at the time. I also liked her first husband and child story allot more he was allot cooler than Sam amd together with Tiana they build a village for her and her tribe and friends from the Osage tribe of the bear family. I think it was a good choice to kill off her child because it showed how much gruesomeness happened at that time not only the filthy hateful white people but also some of the broken revenge seeking rebellious tribal peoples that lost everything did wrong it gave a very realistic picture of how vulnerable life was back than if you where a native and wanted to live like the old days you needed to fight constantly to keep your head above water and its sadly still the case this needs to change in my opinion native people should get states instead of territories and that you have a few states in wich native people decide with native customs. So the Osage peoples where at war with the Cherokees and Tianas girlfriend and friend got killed by their own tribe because it was seen as betrayal when they became friends with Tiana because the Cherokees killed off the Osages because of the silent us goverments pressure. Iiked when Coffee killed the slave owner this was very justified eventho he killed him in a blinded manner im happy the writer put this in the book. I liked the justified aggresive parts more than the sex parts because the sex parts where like physical therapy and than in sexual way and I just had the characters in my head in that they didnt align well Tiana was a a strong powerfull woman throughout the book but Sam became a perverted and broken man wich he didnt deserve also I did not see this transition as realistic but more as a coping mechanism of the writer because the indigenous people had it worse. The end of the book is also well done I got sentimental with Tiana but not with Sam the drunk war man.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 9, 2018
This book was astonishing and amazing and heartwrenching. It is a poignant and beautiful story. The main character is Tiana, a woman of the Cherokee tribe. It tells of her life from a young girl no older than ten, to the day she dies. This is a woman like no other. Her match can be found few and far between, if any should have ever existed. She is wise and spirited, youthful and calm, she is caring and gentle and a sage of her nation. After reading this story of hers (for it is hers, no matter the number of others it tells of) I feel as though I know this woman, though she died long ago. Her plight and those of her people at the hands of the white men invading their land and killing their families and stealing their joy is told... in a way I lack the words to describe. This book has made me speechless. It is bittersweet and at times harshly beautiful. I have left much of the story out. I hope that you decide to read this and like it as well as I do.
September 23, 2011
This was my first big novel and I read it as a young girl. I have always been interested in native american history. I was deeply moved by the story of Tiana Rogers, a young cherokee girl who grew up learning the ways of the medicine woman and eventually was bestowed that honor. There is simply too much to write about this book, it is that good. It starts when she is in her early teens and ends with her death. I loved the story of her love with Sam Houston. Whether this story is true or not I don't know. I won't spoil it for you who haven't read this book, but by the time I got to the end I was crying my eyes out.
August 15, 2019
Well researched with well developed characters and a strong (albeit rushed) ending. I could have done without everybody falling in love/lust with Tiana and Sam left and right, though.
And I wish I'd not known anything about Sam Houston, or that this was historical fiction rather than a made up story, before reading this. I went through the whole book wondering how sympathetic the real Sam Houston had been to the Native Americans and if Tiana's death in the Trail of Tears actually pained him as much as it was portrayed here (if that is indeed how she died), given that he named one of his children after Andrew Jackson. Kinda ruined my enjoyment of this story.
And I wish I'd not known anything about Sam Houston, or that this was historical fiction rather than a made up story, before reading this. I went through the whole book wondering how sympathetic the real Sam Houston had been to the Native Americans and if Tiana's death in the Trail of Tears actually pained him as much as it was portrayed here (if that is indeed how she died), given that he named one of his children after Andrew Jackson. Kinda ruined my enjoyment of this story.
April 3, 2016
It was a struggle for me to listen to Walk In My Soul because I do know what happened on the Trail of Tears and how the local tribes were treated. I enjoyed spending time with Tiana and the Cherokee. I also enjoyed Sam’s time with the Cherokee until his brothers came ruined the idyll.
I came to care for the characters, but I did give up on the audiobook during the second part, The Night Land, because I didn’t want Tiana, her family, and her friends to suffer. I do look forward to reading more by Lucia St. Clair Robson.
I came to care for the characters, but I did give up on the audiobook during the second part, The Night Land, because I didn’t want Tiana, her family, and her friends to suffer. I do look forward to reading more by Lucia St. Clair Robson.
April 4, 2009
This book about the Trail of Tears made me cry. According to family tradition there is a "grandmother" (I am not sure how many greats) who was Cherokee. It was an interesting window on this sad chapter in American History.
December 23, 2014
This book may be to date my all time favorite book. Historical fiction and romance, this book really has it all, I don't think it's still in print, otherwise all my friends would have a copy for Christmas.
August 26, 2007
I still think about this book. I didn't want it to end.
Read
April 18, 2012one of my favorites
September 18, 2016
One of my all time favorites. Read it about a dozen or more times.
July 24, 2013
If you love historical novels, this one is for you!
September 22, 2013
Loved learning about the Cherokee culture.
April 10, 2016
Another wonderful classic.
Read
January 5, 2026(This is from a journal I wrote in 1994. I've been transcribing the journals and came across my feelings about this book. I thought, Why not put it on Goodreads?!)
I just finished reading a 500+ pages of Walk in My Soul, a book about Tiana Rogers, a half Indian woman, and the Cherokee Indians. As a result I feel extremely blessed to live in a time of peace, prosperity, and technology. We have so many blessings in our day. There is still as much evil in the world as in the 1800s, but there is also more power for good. There is still injustice, poverty, and cruelty, but this is balanced with charity and opportunity. Life isn’t as simple or as complicated. Culture is somewhat diminished and spirituality is harder to find, but it can flourish if people choose to let it.
I had a lot of thoughts about love and its power. In the book, love wasn’t as strong as “destiny.” The need to follow individual designs and purposes was stronger than love. I wonder about that concept. Is it true?
I just finished reading a 500+ pages of Walk in My Soul, a book about Tiana Rogers, a half Indian woman, and the Cherokee Indians. As a result I feel extremely blessed to live in a time of peace, prosperity, and technology. We have so many blessings in our day. There is still as much evil in the world as in the 1800s, but there is also more power for good. There is still injustice, poverty, and cruelty, but this is balanced with charity and opportunity. Life isn’t as simple or as complicated. Culture is somewhat diminished and spirituality is harder to find, but it can flourish if people choose to let it.
I had a lot of thoughts about love and its power. In the book, love wasn’t as strong as “destiny.” The need to follow individual designs and purposes was stronger than love. I wonder about that concept. Is it true?
February 3, 2022
This is a good book. It tells a Cherokee "Beloved Women" named Tiana. The trials they had with the Indian Removal Act put in place by Andrew Jackson. The book also tell about Sam Houston, and his relationship with Tiana, and of his accomplishments. It is well worth reading for people that are interested in historical fiction with a novel twist. I enjoyed it.
May 18, 2017
If you want to know something about the Path of Tears of the Indigenous (First Nations) Peoples of the U.S., and some of whom fled also to Canada, this is a great historical fiction that will take you inside.
Read
October 8, 2020I got this book as a gift when I was fairly young and ever since then I've read it over and over again. its one of my favorite ever books! You really feel and live with Tiana, you cry and laugh with her.
Highly recommend, you won't regret reading this!!!
Highly recommend, you won't regret reading this!!!
May 29, 2021
Good start that quickly got bogged down in too many characters. It was hard to keep track of everyone and I finally gave up. It's a shame because I love historical fiction and this seemed right up my alley.
August 31, 2024
A love story…two young folks…I just don’t know what to say adequately about all this book shares with you as a gift this author delivers. Once you read it, you’ll know what the title completely conveys. ❤️
September 23, 2018
Wonderful historical novel - great detail and a lovely story....
June 12, 2020
As good as any thing I have ever read in my life, I am a new fan!
July 3, 2020
One of my favorite books ever! Got my on my journey to reading historical novels!
September 25, 2020
This book is 644 pages, but I could not piut it down. I live in East Tennessee and I know the places that these events happened. I loved it.
April 2, 2021
A beautiful, powerful and heartbreaking story of the ways of the Right people, their efforts to hold onto their truths and ways of honoring all life in the fight against injustice and oppression.
October 4, 2023
Well written. Based on truth.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews