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The Kentuckians #2
Hannah Fowler
Samuel Moore and his daughter Hannah set out for the border country with a party led by George Rogers Clark but left to follow the Kentucky River to Boones' Fort. As the story opens, Hannah is nursing her father, injured when an axe slips and cuts his leg. By the time Tice Fowler, on his way to Logan's Fort, stumbles upon them alone in the wilderness, Samuel is dying from blood poisoning.When Samuel dies, Tice takes Hannah to the fort, where women are scarce, and Hannah finds herself besieged by suitors. Only with Tice, as silent and downright as herself, does Hannah feel at ease. Finally, she turns to the bashful Tice and asks him to marry her and take her away from the crowded fort.Together, they take their claim to land, build a cabin, and start a family. They endure the harsh frontier life, the threat of hungry wolves, a killing blizzard, and Indian raids.Hannah is an unforgettable character -- tall, physically and psychologically strong, the epitome of frontier womanhood -- brought to life by a woman who knew and loved the Kentucky people and setting about which she wrote.
219 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1956
13 people are currently reading
752 people want to read
About the author
Janice Holt Giles
39 books47 followersJanice Holt Giles was an American writer best known for her series of pseudo historical novels focusing on life on the American frontier, particularly within Kentucky.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
November 16, 2025
This book was so good I'm furious with myself. I made a stupid vow not to buy any more books til the first of the year, so got this one through my library's inter-library loan system. All well and good, but even very early in the book I knew I wanted my own copy. I know this is an incurable disease, an addiction even and I was trying to alleviate the fact that I have way too many books and not enough shelf space, but if you fully intend to re-read a novel you must have your own copy.
The time is the late 1770's, with settlers piling into Kentucky despite the Indian threat and hard work building a homestead and all sorts of other difficulties. Hannah and her father are among these people, but her father dies of a wound before they reach their destination, and Hannah must go on alone. She eventually marries, and she and her husband Tice set to work building a home and settling down on their 400 acres. These people were tougher than me, as I was exhausted just reading about them and what they had to deal with. My God, the work! Everything, and I do mean everything, had to be done by hand. Working together with neighbors was the only way to survive. Hannah was a strong woman who could cope with almost anything you handed her, but still needed help occasionally, and was grateful when it was offered.
The author knew her people, their speech patterns and the area and history she wrote about. Books like this are the reason I love pioneer novels. They are the opposite of futuristic books because they take us into a past that seems just as unbelievable, but actually happened, and are the very real reason that any of us are still around.
And yes, per my vow, I will wait til January 2026 to buy my own copy.
The time is the late 1770's, with settlers piling into Kentucky despite the Indian threat and hard work building a homestead and all sorts of other difficulties. Hannah and her father are among these people, but her father dies of a wound before they reach their destination, and Hannah must go on alone. She eventually marries, and she and her husband Tice set to work building a home and settling down on their 400 acres. These people were tougher than me, as I was exhausted just reading about them and what they had to deal with. My God, the work! Everything, and I do mean everything, had to be done by hand. Working together with neighbors was the only way to survive. Hannah was a strong woman who could cope with almost anything you handed her, but still needed help occasionally, and was grateful when it was offered.
The author knew her people, their speech patterns and the area and history she wrote about. Books like this are the reason I love pioneer novels. They are the opposite of futuristic books because they take us into a past that seems just as unbelievable, but actually happened, and are the very real reason that any of us are still around.
And yes, per my vow, I will wait til January 2026 to buy my own copy.
December 6, 2022
A good frontier story told from the perspective of a woman, the leading character. Hannah and her father are traveling alone to Boonesborough in 1778 when a chance encounter with Tice Fowler changes her life. The problems of frontier life are told through encounters with severe weather, child bearing and interactions with the Indians. If you like frontier tales you will like this. Recommended.
June 10, 2014
Hannah Fowler! Somebody needs to turn this book into a movie.
Hannah and her father are moving from the Pennsylvania/Virginia border to Kentucky, to a place where a man can get clear title to his land, with no arguments as to which country or territory he belongs to. Land title. Yes, all it took was discrepancies about land title to make people move west.
Along the way, there are mentions of Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, and many names that I recognize as place names in Kentucky near where my grandparents lived. It's set during the Revolutionary War, 1778, but the impact of the war on Kentucky territory was nonexistent. They were out there in the woods, in virgin country that had seen very few white people, arguing with the Indians about who was going to live there. War was very far from their experience.
Hannah meets a man named Matthias, Tice for short, and her life really begins. Homesteading, building a log cabin and barn, babies, livestock, spinning wheels and looms, gardens, and wolves become part and parcel of Hannah's life with Tice Fowler.
Janice Holt Giles was a master of setting and mood. The setting of Kentucky wilderness and hills is vividly painted. A harsh blizzard is so well described that a body gets a chill in June from reading it. The voice of the novel is infectious, written in the rhythm and syntax of the Kentucky hills that Mrs. Giles made her home.
I love this book.
Hannah and her father are moving from the Pennsylvania/Virginia border to Kentucky, to a place where a man can get clear title to his land, with no arguments as to which country or territory he belongs to. Land title. Yes, all it took was discrepancies about land title to make people move west.
Along the way, there are mentions of Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, and many names that I recognize as place names in Kentucky near where my grandparents lived. It's set during the Revolutionary War, 1778, but the impact of the war on Kentucky territory was nonexistent. They were out there in the woods, in virgin country that had seen very few white people, arguing with the Indians about who was going to live there. War was very far from their experience.
Hannah meets a man named Matthias, Tice for short, and her life really begins. Homesteading, building a log cabin and barn, babies, livestock, spinning wheels and looms, gardens, and wolves become part and parcel of Hannah's life with Tice Fowler.
Janice Holt Giles was a master of setting and mood. The setting of Kentucky wilderness and hills is vividly painted. A harsh blizzard is so well described that a body gets a chill in June from reading it. The voice of the novel is infectious, written in the rhythm and syntax of the Kentucky hills that Mrs. Giles made her home.
I love this book.
May 20, 2016
Re-read Sept 2014 - This is actually the 3rd time I've read this since I first read it in 2012. I loved it just as much this time as the first. I can't say enough good things about it, really - if you haven't read it, you are missing out! :)
It's a shame that Janice Holt Giles isn't a more well known author. I enjoyed her novel The Kentuckians very much, but Hannah Fowler is a step above. I am amazed at her ability to write in dialect and have it come off not as annoying, but endearing. The relationship between Hannah and Tice is so down to earth and genuine, it hits you right in the heart. I guess it is the difference between honest love that grows out of real life, vs. sentimental romance... And as she does in The Kentuckians, JHG re-creates the world of pioneer Kentucky beautifully, both the good and the bad. An amazing book.
It's a shame that Janice Holt Giles isn't a more well known author. I enjoyed her novel The Kentuckians very much, but Hannah Fowler is a step above. I am amazed at her ability to write in dialect and have it come off not as annoying, but endearing. The relationship between Hannah and Tice is so down to earth and genuine, it hits you right in the heart. I guess it is the difference between honest love that grows out of real life, vs. sentimental romance... And as she does in The Kentuckians, JHG re-creates the world of pioneer Kentucky beautifully, both the good and the bad. An amazing book.
February 28, 2015
I really liked this book. It came up on my Goodreads recommendation list. The summary interested me but the fact it was written in the 1950 also intrigued me. The copy I checked out at the library was an original 1956 printing. It had that good smell that reminds me of books I would check out as a kid. The language was more difficult than a lot of the historical romances written today and it took me a while to get use to the pattern but worth the effort. I think part of the reason I liked it was because it is similar to Celia Garth (by Gwen Bristoe) one of my all time favorite books. If you can find a copy, I recommend this book.
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December 6, 2024I came across this book in our public library's basement bookstore, and I opened its cover having no idea what to expect from its plot or characters. Suffice it to say, I went to bed every night looking forward to picking it up and reading more and more. Giles measuredly and winsomely taught me to care about every character on the page, and she succeeded in writing one of the most interesting (and terrifying!) historical accounts of 18th-century Americans settling the Kentucky countryside. Truly, I have never been so scared reading a book as I was when ... Well, it would be better for me to stop here and let the author tell you the story herself.
March 18, 2023
I liked this story of Hannah. She was the picture of a tough frontiers woman. Tough and big and soft hearted underneath it all. I’m impressed by her love for the domestic duties of a child and husband and home. And then also her ability to work so hard along side her husband doing ‘manly’ work. Inspiring to me to get complete joy out of just the fact that I have a house to call my own. And to find such pleasure in things like digging potatoes and the intricate beauty of my favorite flower.
October 8, 2008
I had read this book before however I forgot most of it.
Janice Holt Giles is just like Lois Lowry, Ann Ridnaldi and Pearl S. Buck.
I enjoyed this book about Hannah Fowler who like myself came from Pennsylvania.
Her Father and Her travelled the Ohio River and they got off on the Kentucky River while the rest went to the Falls of the Ohio. The cities there today are Jeffersonville, IN and Louisville, KY.
The Winter of 1779-1780 reminds me of "The Long Winter" w/Laura Ingells Wilder and "The Forgotten Soldier" Guy Sojar.
Story deals w/settling KY around the time of Daniel Boone, Jim Harrod, and William Logan. Many others who help settle KY are mentioned in the story.
A great story for Ladies of all ages of how they helped settle this great Country of OURS.
Janice Holt Giles is just like Lois Lowry, Ann Ridnaldi and Pearl S. Buck.
I enjoyed this book about Hannah Fowler who like myself came from Pennsylvania.
Her Father and Her travelled the Ohio River and they got off on the Kentucky River while the rest went to the Falls of the Ohio. The cities there today are Jeffersonville, IN and Louisville, KY.
The Winter of 1779-1780 reminds me of "The Long Winter" w/Laura Ingells Wilder and "The Forgotten Soldier" Guy Sojar.
Story deals w/settling KY around the time of Daniel Boone, Jim Harrod, and William Logan. Many others who help settle KY are mentioned in the story.
A great story for Ladies of all ages of how they helped settle this great Country of OURS.
June 20, 2009
Recommended by a friend when I was one week overdue with my first baby, just dragging through the hours and days of waiting...and it was wonderful! Couldn't put it down, and suddenly being hugely pregnant with nothing but time on my hands wasn't so bad after all!
September 6, 2010
My mother read and re-read this book throughout out my childhood - when she was sad or ill. I sit by her bedside in her last days, watching her sleep, and pick up the large print version I tracked down for her a few years ago. I may have read it in high school. I don't remember. I read it now to try to see what gave her such comfort so long ago.
January 16, 2012
Great book. The story of a woman in the wilderness of Kentucky in the days of Daniel Boone (1778ish). Took me a few chapters to really get into her speaking dialect, but a great story. In many ways it reminded me of "These Is My Words." Both are about strong women doing amazing things and thinking that they're perfectly normal.
November 19, 2013
Very true that this is a book you can read several times. Our Library has several of Janice Holt Giles books and I hope they never decide to discard them because they are priceless@@ Highly Recommend to anyone who wants to know how it was to struggle during the first settlements. This was my favorite of her books but they were all great!!
April 17, 2014
Read as a teenager, it was on my grandmother's shelf...found the sequel to this years later by chance at the Canterbury Shaker Village, The Believers. What a find, this is a great story.
July 9, 2020
One of my favorite books. It has stayed with me through numerous moves and several "book purges".
The characters seem like old friends and I've visited them often.
The characters seem like old friends and I've visited them often.
April 11, 2021
I have read this book multiple times and all of Janice Holt Giles books are worth reading. They are the kind that stay with me.
August 10, 2024
Horribly dated now with as one reviewer pointed out, it's frankly abhorrent portrayal of First Nations.
Written in the mid 50's, it's to be commended for it's independent, stalwart female character, Hannah Fowler who beset by no end of frontier challengers, handles them all with fortitude and aplomb so 5 stars for that aspect of this novel. Giles sometimes hints at a momentary concern that the settlers have for their actions settling a land that is not theirs and in their behavior and attitudes to the Shawnee people but generally dismisses any brief thoughts of conscience pretty promptly.
Written in the mid 50's, it's to be commended for it's independent, stalwart female character, Hannah Fowler who beset by no end of frontier challengers, handles them all with fortitude and aplomb so 5 stars for that aspect of this novel. Giles sometimes hints at a momentary concern that the settlers have for their actions settling a land that is not theirs and in their behavior and attitudes to the Shawnee people but generally dismisses any brief thoughts of conscience pretty promptly.
August 4, 2025
This was a wonderful, solid book with unforgettable characters. I love pioneer stories and this one is truly a treasure. I enjoyed every minute of it and can’t wait to read The Believers.
June 2, 2010
3+. Published in 1956, it is a story of Hannah Fowler, a frontier woman and her family, their dealings with the land and the Shawnee and Cherokee Indians before Kentucky became a state (circa 1770). I enjoyed the descriptions of them living and moving around the land in West Virginia (a favorite backpacking location for me). I also enjoyed the simple, sweet relationships she had with her husband and neighbors. I appreciated many little pearls of wisdom she had in her no-nonsense life and her love for the things that really matter in life. She was a strong woman.
Some parts I especially liked: (p. 82) "She felt an enlargement of herself, an expansion, as if now she had become big enough to take in the whole land that stretched before her. She felt strong and able and full of a queer, bubbly exhilaration such as she had known sometimes as a child when some new adventure loomed."
(p. 170) Speaking of a visit with some friends,"Hit was a good visit, warn't it? I do think a heap of William an' Jane."
"An' me. I d'know as they's any two folks that pleasures me more,". . . "They're jist somehow," she summed up,"awful satisfyin'."
And about falling in love, "(p. 118-119) Not quite a year they had been married, and it was a thing to wonder at yet, how known she had become to him, all her ways and all her looks. . . He thought how it was you learned so much about somebody when you lived with them, things they never even knew themselves, likely, and how it made them so much closer, like a youngun of your own flesh and blood--sweet, somehow, and kin.
Some parts I especially liked: (p. 82) "She felt an enlargement of herself, an expansion, as if now she had become big enough to take in the whole land that stretched before her. She felt strong and able and full of a queer, bubbly exhilaration such as she had known sometimes as a child when some new adventure loomed."
(p. 170) Speaking of a visit with some friends,"Hit was a good visit, warn't it? I do think a heap of William an' Jane."
"An' me. I d'know as they's any two folks that pleasures me more,". . . "They're jist somehow," she summed up,"awful satisfyin'."
And about falling in love, "(p. 118-119) Not quite a year they had been married, and it was a thing to wonder at yet, how known she had become to him, all her ways and all her looks. . . He thought how it was you learned so much about somebody when you lived with them, things they never even knew themselves, likely, and how it made them so much closer, like a youngun of your own flesh and blood--sweet, somehow, and kin.
December 29, 2021
I wanted to make sure I read at least one book out of my grandma's collection of favorites this year, and here it is. It took me a long time to get into it, mostly due to a very tiny font and the slightly off-putting dialect. I really liked the last two-thirds. Hannah is incredibly capable and resilient and I suspect that is what drew my grandma to this book. It was lovely watching Hannah and Tice evolve from a marriage of convenience to real love and respect.
July 15, 2021
Another of my other favs. It is the book that got me interested in women's lives on the frontier ( the first American frontier Kentucky, Tennessee... A strong woman and charated I admired. why I eventually got in to 18th living history and historic sites volunteer and early settlement of Ky an IN.
October 8, 2012
An excellent historical fiction novel draws me in and this one did, so much so that I read the two sequels. I feel like I traveled in time. Giles use of setting, characterization and historical context is remarkable.
June 28, 2020
hannah Fowler portrays a strong woman who is able to make her way in the world without having to depend on a man. She chooses to be with Tice but does not lose herself because of it. For those of us who live in Kentucky it is interesting because of the history behind the story
August 4, 2021
Recommended reading by Like Mother Like Daughter blog. Couldn’t put it down, a pretty exciting book. But also couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a romance novel. Loved the details - house-building, blizzards, even an Indian kidnapping.
January 25, 2016
Excellent story; very interesting. Kept my attention.
December 14, 2017
Another good Janice Holt Giles book. Her characters are so believable.
August 2, 2018
An incredibly memorable book. Excellent in every way.
January 3, 2019
A snapshot of life on the Kentucky frontier around the time of the American revolution.
September 29, 2019
The second in the Kentuckian series. A novel portraying the difficulties faced by early pioneers in Kentucky.
July 4, 2022
I wish the book was twice as thick. I wasn't done with Hannah.
October 4, 2017
Hannah Fowler is true Americana. Written and published in the 1950s, it has been brought back into print and e-book. It is a fascinating story of homesteaders in Kentucky in the 1700s.
Hannah seems to me a super-human, determined, relentlessly hard-working woman. Everything— food, clothing, shelter, tools and belongings are wrought from one’s own hands, continuous backbreaking labor, natures gifts and the land.
I found it fascinating to follow Giles story of these brave, tenacious, resourceful early settlers who survived and thrived. Of course many did not. It is the one of the reasons why many of us are alive today. Our ancestors were in in some way or another similar to Hannah and the Kentuckians in their stuggle to survive.
The storyline, often predictable, sometimes unbelievable kept me turning the pages late into the night. The delightfully simple yet beautifully descriptive prose, authentic dialect and well drawn characters made the novel a perfect read for me.
Hannah seems to me a super-human, determined, relentlessly hard-working woman. Everything— food, clothing, shelter, tools and belongings are wrought from one’s own hands, continuous backbreaking labor, natures gifts and the land.
I found it fascinating to follow Giles story of these brave, tenacious, resourceful early settlers who survived and thrived. Of course many did not. It is the one of the reasons why many of us are alive today. Our ancestors were in in some way or another similar to Hannah and the Kentuckians in their stuggle to survive.
The storyline, often predictable, sometimes unbelievable kept me turning the pages late into the night. The delightfully simple yet beautifully descriptive prose, authentic dialect and well drawn characters made the novel a perfect read for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews