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Ghost Fox
A novel that shares a time and place with The Last of the Mohicans, relating the experiences of a young woman caught in the fury of the French and Indian Wars. Seventeen-year-old Sarah Wells is taken from a New Hampshire farm by Abnaki Indians and renamed "Ghost Fox." Line drawings by the Author.
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 37 reviews
April 25, 2011
Confession time.
The book cover I'm reviewing under isn't the one I actually own. My copy was bought (and first read), back in 1981. OK, so not a big deal, but when you read and review a book with this cover:
people are bound to expect it's just another one of those lurid 1970's/80's bodice rippers filled with heaving white girl breasts and turgid manly Indian members swelling to the beat of tribal war drums.
And this book is so NOT that. In fact, Ghost Fox could more easily be compared with another fantastic work of fiction based on true events: Follow the River by James Alexander Thom. Writer James Houston must have surely used some of the same non-fiction source material as Thom for this novel set during the French and Indian War. His fictional heroine Sarah Wells' escape from Indian captivity with another female captive mirrors (on a smaller scale) the journey of real life heroine Mary Draper Ingals in Thom's novel. Of the two books, I prefer Thom's because it is based on real events, but that in no way diminishes how good a novel Ghost Fox was for it's realistic yet grisly portrayal of life on along the New England/Canadian wilderness in the 1750's.
This is not a book for the squeamish. It has several instances of scalpings, burnings, torture and running the gauntlet. However, unlike many books, Houston shows both sides of the conflict from the European and Indian perspective, and he neither fully demonizes nor glorifies either race. We see the story unfold through the eyes of 18 year old Sarah Wells, a farm girl kidnapped by Abnaki Indians after a raid on her homestead. Sarah is marched north into Canada and begins a life of capitivity with these people. She slowly begins to adapt and appreciate their way of life, even though she abhors some of their rituals and practices. She escapes with another captive, and finds her way back home after a few years. Home, however, and her old way of life, is now foreign to her. The final chapter is the best of all, and is probably the reason I kept this book for 30 years. Sarah makes the decision as to how she will live the rest of her life, and it is bittersweet and perfect.
An older book, and probably not easy to find, but worth the read if you can find a library copy or an inexpensive copy at a used book store.
February 11, 2019
After reading one of the reviews for Ghost Fox, I thought it might be helpful to quote Houston about the story.
From Zigzag : a Life on the Move (Not a book I'd re-read or recommend, except to New Yorkers and fellow fans of the Canadian author.)
"I decided to write this new book about an Indian captivity because we were living in our old New England farm house, built circa 1750-55. I had started to become interested in the French and Indian Wars, which had been raging at the very time when our farm was built. My interest grew when I read a small account of Mary Jemison, who had been taken from a similar colonial farm and marched north with other captives by the Abnaki Indians into Canada. Jemison led an extremely perilous yet fascinating life among the Abnaki. She was married to one of them and had a child before she was recaptured by the British in the course of their attack on the Abnaki village.
"At this point, I felt that I really could not understand the feelings of the two desperate women who appear in Ghost Fox and who were determined to escape their pursuers. I worried for a while, then taking our car, I drove to Vermont's northern border to the place called Canadanskawa, not far from a beaver swamp. ...
"... long after midnight ... I forced myself to walk forward into the darkness of the unknown swamp ... boots filled with water as I kept slipping into holes and catching my feet under sunken roots. It was very dark and I hated being thigh deep in the icy water. Almost immediately I began to sense the dark terror and shivering pangs of the indomitable Deutsche woman and young Sarah as they tried desperately to escape by night, leaving no trail for their ruthless trackers. It was, I think, one of the two most miserable experiences I have ever had in my life.
" ... My main character, Sarah - or Ghost Fox as she was called by the Indians - led a wild and dangerous life, even after she was released and taken south by various soldiers. She was returned to her parish and was paid the church reward for freed captives. But then, discontented with farm life, she returned to spend the rest of her days with her Indian husband in the north. ..."
"The rest of my research for Ghost Fox was rewarding and more enjoyable. It took me more than four years in all, including traveling to the Newberry Library in Chicago, where most pamphlets and accounts on Indian captivities are housed."
***
original review : An old favorite about captive Euro-American women adapting to Native American life.
Kirkus Review copied and pasted ...
KIRKUS REVIEW
Less enveloping than The White Dawn (1971) is this industrious account of the capture of a colonial woman and her conversion to Indian ways. Despite humiliation, a forced march to Canada, and enslavement, Sarah Wells adapts to her Abnaki family although she never gets accustomed to their more atrocious tortures--nor will delicate readers. Drawn to Taliwan who gives her a bearskin blanket and something even warmer, she earns the name Ghost Fox although Foxy Lady would do just as well: there's an old friend on the way home and a soldier she strategically wears out. The conflicts of the French and Indian Wars are enacted while Sarah, in a plot as circuitous as a forest path, attempts escape, is recaptured, reconsiders and ""marries"" Taliwan; subsequently returned to her overcivilized family, she voluntarily departs to resume life among the Indians. More substantial than many but watch out for the war paint.
From Zigzag : a Life on the Move (Not a book I'd re-read or recommend, except to New Yorkers and fellow fans of the Canadian author.)
"I decided to write this new book about an Indian captivity because we were living in our old New England farm house, built circa 1750-55. I had started to become interested in the French and Indian Wars, which had been raging at the very time when our farm was built. My interest grew when I read a small account of Mary Jemison, who had been taken from a similar colonial farm and marched north with other captives by the Abnaki Indians into Canada. Jemison led an extremely perilous yet fascinating life among the Abnaki. She was married to one of them and had a child before she was recaptured by the British in the course of their attack on the Abnaki village.
"At this point, I felt that I really could not understand the feelings of the two desperate women who appear in Ghost Fox and who were determined to escape their pursuers. I worried for a while, then taking our car, I drove to Vermont's northern border to the place called Canadanskawa, not far from a beaver swamp. ...
"... long after midnight ... I forced myself to walk forward into the darkness of the unknown swamp ... boots filled with water as I kept slipping into holes and catching my feet under sunken roots. It was very dark and I hated being thigh deep in the icy water. Almost immediately I began to sense the dark terror and shivering pangs of the indomitable Deutsche woman and young Sarah as they tried desperately to escape by night, leaving no trail for their ruthless trackers. It was, I think, one of the two most miserable experiences I have ever had in my life.
" ... My main character, Sarah - or Ghost Fox as she was called by the Indians - led a wild and dangerous life, even after she was released and taken south by various soldiers. She was returned to her parish and was paid the church reward for freed captives. But then, discontented with farm life, she returned to spend the rest of her days with her Indian husband in the north. ..."
"The rest of my research for Ghost Fox was rewarding and more enjoyable. It took me more than four years in all, including traveling to the Newberry Library in Chicago, where most pamphlets and accounts on Indian captivities are housed."
***
original review : An old favorite about captive Euro-American women adapting to Native American life.
Kirkus Review copied and pasted ...
KIRKUS REVIEW
Less enveloping than The White Dawn (1971) is this industrious account of the capture of a colonial woman and her conversion to Indian ways. Despite humiliation, a forced march to Canada, and enslavement, Sarah Wells adapts to her Abnaki family although she never gets accustomed to their more atrocious tortures--nor will delicate readers. Drawn to Taliwan who gives her a bearskin blanket and something even warmer, she earns the name Ghost Fox although Foxy Lady would do just as well: there's an old friend on the way home and a soldier she strategically wears out. The conflicts of the French and Indian Wars are enacted while Sarah, in a plot as circuitous as a forest path, attempts escape, is recaptured, reconsiders and ""marries"" Taliwan; subsequently returned to her overcivilized family, she voluntarily departs to resume life among the Indians. More substantial than many but watch out for the war paint.
Want to read
December 31, 2010I read this as a kid in a reader's digest condensed book and have never forgotten it. Would love to get my hands on a copy and re-read it.
June 6, 2018
The historical detail of this novel is amazing.
Unfortunately, the story drags, there's too much profanity, it makes Christians look bad...yeah, this wasn't a favorite of mine.
If you like historical fiction, you should check out the Thoenes' books; their stories of days gone by are wonders to behold.
Unfortunately, the story drags, there's too much profanity, it makes Christians look bad...yeah, this wasn't a favorite of mine.
If you like historical fiction, you should check out the Thoenes' books; their stories of days gone by are wonders to behold.
October 7, 2010
While not always an easy read, this book is a highly recommended one. Mr. Houston has taken his extensive research of the Native American struggle during the French and Indian Wars and developed an honest and realistic story of a young woman taken captive and forced to live as a slave to the Indians. Through her, we see life as it was during that sad and brutal time. We follow her struggles as well as her triumphs and are left both satisfied and well educated.
August 13, 2007
A random book I pulled off my grandfather's bookshelf when I was around 10 years old. This is a love story, set in early America when white colonists and Indians were at war, and young pretty girls got captured and accepted into Indian tribes. Well, that's pretty much what happened in this book, at least. My mother freaked when she saw what I was reading - but not after I learned much more than I needed to know at that age from the sex scenes and violent battles. She let me finish (I really wanted to know how it ended) and I actually enjoyed the book. I'm not sure how it compares to other books in this genre (to this day, Ghost Fox is the only romance novel I've ever read) but the characters and plot really kept me interested throughout the book - even at 10.
October 7, 2021
Het verhaal gaat over Sarah Wells, een kolonisten meisje dat door Abnaki-indianen ontvoerd wordt en meegenomen naar Canada. Eerst wordt ze als slavin behandeld, en heeft ze een heel hard leven, ze mag in feite blij zijn dat ze mag blijven leven. Ze sluit vriendschap met Havik, een andere blanke slavin, maar ze kunnen enkel in het geheim met elkaar praten. Op een dag besluiten ze te ontsnappen, en bijna lukt het hen, maar dan worden ze toch weer door de Abnaki die naar hen op zoek zijn, gevangen. Ze worden meegenomen naar een ander Abnaki-dorp, waar de krijgsleider bij het gokken tegen het opperhoofd van dit dorp, Sarah als inzet gebruikt en verliest. Sarah verblijft vanaf dan bij deze mensen en wordt zeer goed behandeld, ze wordt opgenomen in de familie van het opperhoofd. Men noemt haar Wagwise - Zilvervos. Sarah is een hele tijd gelukkig in dit dorp, maar dan vindt er een aanval door de Mohawks plaats, en bijna iedereen wordt vermoord. Sarah en nog enkele andere meisjes worden gevangen genomen. De leider van deze Mohawks is een Britse luitenant, die van plan is Sarah voor losgeld terug te bezorgen aan haar ouders. Het is nog maar de vraag of Sarah terug zal kunnen wennen aan het leven van de blanken...
Lang geleden had ik dit boek al eens gelezen, en toen vond ik het super spannend. Nu vond ik het eigenlijk nog wel goed, maar het pakte me niet zoveel meer. Daarom 3 sterren.
Lang geleden had ik dit boek al eens gelezen, en toen vond ik het super spannend. Nu vond ik het eigenlijk nog wel goed, maar het pakte me niet zoveel meer. Daarom 3 sterren.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2014
I was in high school when I last read this book - and I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was! I was afraid that it might no longer seem as wonderful to me now, as it did then, but I wasn't disappointed. What a wonderful read! I'm always a sucker for historical fiction, but this author truly outdid himself, and I felt completely transported back in time whenever time I opened the pages. The plight of Sarah Wells, a seventeen year old who was stolen by Abnaki Indians during the French and Indian Wars, became very real to me. I am curious as to how much actual research was done for this novel, and how heavily it was based on the real-life story of Cynthia Ann Parker, as Sarah's story - rich in detail and unflinchingly authentic - seems to rather closely mirror Cynthia's life. The author, James Houston, allows for both tragedy and joy, and the reader is swept up effortlessly in Sarah's struggles as she is first taken slave, but then ultimately is assimilated into her Indian family. In fact, so Indian does she become, she no longer thinks or acts as a white woman of those times would - which later only leads to more troubles. But I won't give away the ending! If you decided to read this, check it out in autumn - you will love the vivid descriptions of fall foliage in this novel.
January 16, 2008
Another RDC. I truly enjoyed this book. Its funny, I remember the book but not a lot of details. It was quite awhile ago that I read it. But what I remember about it was really good. A good book about perseverance in the face of adversity, and how we can adapt to anything if we need to.
Read
September 8, 2007This book is the reason I was named Sarah, it's an amazing tale of an english girl who was kidnapped and became part of a tribe... I don't want to ruin the story but she was a brave survivor!
August 31, 2008
This is a good *story*, but I really didn't like the writing style. There were sudden shifts between characters & plotlines that left me confused.
March 12, 2014
Brilliant, needs to made into a movie
December 15, 2021
Erica lent me this book to read at our last in person book club meeting before the pandemic upset life. She read this when she was young and man, what a horny book to read when you’re a kid 😂
A LOT happens to the main character. Like, a stupid amount of drama, wilderness, badass moves, etc.
But then big, kind of important parts are glossed over like
A LOT happens to the main character. Like, a stupid amount of drama, wilderness, badass moves, etc.
But then big, kind of important parts are glossed over like
March 21, 2025
One of the best books I have ever read, I bought this book at Heathrow, quite by chance, years ago (ironically, I was on my way to Canada at the time) and absolutely couldn't put it down (in fact, I have reread it more times than I can remember and always get something fresh from it). It is interesting historically in that it examines indigenous peoples' ways of living and views of the world (based on Huston's careful research), juxtaposed with 18th century Christian attitudes re women/men and their relationships. It's a tale of human determination to survive, set against the backdrop of the harsh Canadian wilderness.
My daughter and husband couldn't put this book down either and, just yesterday, I bought it for my son-in-law's birthday. I have read many of Huston's other books, but this is the very best (both in terms of plot and literary style).
I am sorry that it is out of print and, like another reviewer here, I have always thought that it would make a superb film.
Ex-English teacher.
My daughter and husband couldn't put this book down either and, just yesterday, I bought it for my son-in-law's birthday. I have read many of Huston's other books, but this is the very best (both in terms of plot and literary style).
I am sorry that it is out of print and, like another reviewer here, I have always thought that it would make a superb film.
Ex-English teacher.
September 19, 2021
My dad gave me the paperback copy of this book when I was about 11 years old. It had a profound effect on me not only because of the gut wrenching events and realism Houston depicts, but personally for me, being a Canadian born immigrant to Australia, linked me to something I needed growing up, which felt like connection. I read it a couple of times, then lost it. A few years later, I discovered it at of all places, at my local library, where they were doing a cull of some books they wanted to sell. The feeling was like reconnecting with an old friend. I must have read the book 20 times since. The story, although fiction could have easily happened over and over again in some form or another during that time in history. Loads of sorrow, some love and contentment, along with pain both physical and mental. And a kind of "melancholic acceptance of the situation she finds herself in" ending to the book.
December 19, 2021
Fantastic book that depicts the Indian lifestyle, although violent, as superior in many ways to the white. Wonderful characters and accurate descriptions of nature and Indian life make us feel as if we are there With Sarah as she is stolen from her New Hampshire farm by the Abnaki and taken to Mississiquoit on Lake Champlain in Canada, where she slowly adopts Indian ways and cannot re-assimilate to white “civilization.”
May 24, 2020
A wonderful and poignant story of Indian abduction. This story reminds me a little of Alexander Thom's "Follow the River," but is not as graphic or as lengthy.
A good story of younger readers interested in history.
A good story of younger readers interested in history.
July 11, 2023
Excellent book!!
April 5, 2025
A classic, eye opening epic.
May 15, 2025
Author really personalizes the experience of being taken captive, and learning to survive and adapt in a new culture.
December 18, 2023
Selected as a book club pick from a member who'd read it when they were young and loved the way the romance in this book made them feel. After a re-read the club received an apology for their recommendation, however they were grateful to have read it again so it could be removed from their favorites list. This book is a perfect example of why we complain about men writing women. The "heroine" in this story is pathetic. Repeatedly accepts her fate when her life or the life of a loved one is at stake and does nothing to even attempt to protect herself. The romance aspect of it is classic beauty and the beast stockholm syndrome. I hated the main character throughout the entire story and I am so glad this book is out of print.
August 13, 2011
This book was published in the early 1970s, I believe, and I'm pretty sure it is out of print. I have a good memory of reading it when I was a child in one of the Readers' Digest Condensed books that my father subscribed to. I tracked down a copy of it and bought it, and read it again. It's not great literature, that's for sure, but it is an interesting story: In colonial, pre-Revolutionary times in North America, a white teenage girl is taken by a band of Indians. After a year or so of living with them, she is returned to her family, but ... [well, here's the spoiler] decides to run away and find her Indian family (husband) again.
July 11, 2008
I had planned to give the book three stars. The author seemed to have done a good job researching the French and Indian War, and I actually found the descriptions of tribal customs and the area very well done. The diaglogue and actions of the characters seemed unbelievable, especially toward the end of the book.
I read this book mainly because I found it at the library, and my mother's name was on the library card dating back to 1978. From the looks of the names on the card it was a very popular novel with my mom and her friends.
I read this book mainly because I found it at the library, and my mother's name was on the library card dating back to 1978. From the looks of the names on the card it was a very popular novel with my mom and her friends.
May 16, 2015
Originally published in 1977, this book has a few racial and gender insensitivities that would not be published today, but otherwise it's still enjoyable. It's a nice combination of a love story with an (apparently) solid historical setting of the French and Indian Wars during the mid 1750's. You'll need to forgive a few plot holes and a few plot points which are glossed over. Not the greatest character development either . . . but somehow the author brings the time period to life in a totally engaging fashion.
February 3, 2009
I read this book when I was a teenager and loved it. It was in Moms collection. So I thought I would read it again. Wow, my opinion can change in 20 years. I still liked it but there were things that disturbed me now that apparently didn't back then. Overall, I enjoyed the Indians point of view and their way of life. I would not have liked to live in that time period but learning about it was facinating(sp).
September 7, 2009
Wow, I really loved this book when I read it as a young girl. I may have been 13 or so, and, to me this story had everything; romance, stirring images of violence, vivid portrayals of what life must have been like in that time. I think it is because of this book that I have a fondness for historical novels.
September 10, 2014
Interesting book and well written. I enjoyed it for the most part. There were times I felt disturbed by the story..but it was still worth the read. It is not your usual romance novel...and more a realistic view of the times and Native American culture. If you are looking for a light read this is not it. If you want a serious book, then you'll like this.
October 8, 2013
I first read this in an old Reader's digest condensed book years back. I loved the story and the absolute reality of both the natives and the European settlers while still being true to the perspective of the times.
January 17, 2016
I remember reading this book as a teenager. I don't often re-read books because there are just so many out new stories out there. But it's not often you read a book that stays with you for more than 35 years. It was nice to see it was as good as I remember.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 37 reviews