River Passage

by P.M. Terrell

Based on the true story of the ill-fated Donelson voyage of 1779-1780. The river journey to Fort Nashborough should have taken four weeks. But more than four months after departing Virginia, a ragtag group of survivors limped into Fort Nashborough with a harrowing tale. Their river voyage had taken them through the heart of hostile Indian Territory at the height of the Chickamauga Indian War. They'd faced repeated attacks over hundreds of miles, leaving some settlers dead, others wounded, and still others captured. They'd also faced near starvation, disease, frostbite and deadly rapids. Winner of the 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Award (Bengal Book Reviews). Considered so historically accurate by the Nashville Metropolitan Government Archives, the original manuscript has been entered into the Archives for future researchers and historians. Told through the eyes of 18-year-old Mary Neely, who journeyed with the Neely family on the Donelson expedition.

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 27 books in four genres: contemporary suspense, historical adventure/suspense, computer how-to, and non-fiction.

Before writing full-time, she founded two computer companies in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area. Among her clients were the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Secret Service, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Department of Defense. Her specialties were white-collar computer crime and computer intelligence, themes that carried forward into her contemporary suspense.

She has been a full-time author since 2002. Vicki’s Key was a top five finalist in the 2012 International Book Awards and 2012 USA Book Awards nominee, and The Pendulum Files was a national finalist for the Best Cover of the Year in 2014. The Tempest Murders was one of four finalists in the 2013 International Book Awards, cross-genre category.

Her historical suspense, River Passage, was a 2010 Best Fiction and Drama Winner. It was determined to be so historically accurate that a copy of the book resides at the Nashville Government Metropolitan Archives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Reviews

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 5 out of 5]

First thing, I would recommend reading this before Songbirds Are Free, which I didn’t do. River Passage is the characters journey to the west, which is based on a true story that revolves around the Donelson Party and Mary Neely, P M Terrell’s ancestor.

The writing brings the story to life, all the danger of the Indians, the rapids of the river, the threat of starvation and anything else you can think of during those times. I cannot imagine what they went through and some of it broke my heart, yet gave me hope and inspiration for those who would not give up.

I have a feeling, if they had an idea of how long their four week trip was going to be, many of them would have chose to stay where they were. I tried to walk in their footsteps through P M Terrell’s words, but I just couldn’t get there as I sat here on my cozy lounger.

P M Terrell continues to entertain and amaze me and I look forward to reading more of her work.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of River Passage by P M Terrell.

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[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the amazing rating is that the book is about a relative of mine. The main character Mary Neely is my great, great, great etc. grandmother. But it really is a good story and very well written. It was hard to put down.