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Hope, Tears, and Dreams on the Way West: An Overland Trail Novel
The hardest part of the journey isn't the trail.
Two teenagers tasked with cleaning the attic find an old diary. They begin reading, their chores forgotten.
Missouri 1849: Maggie is strangling in a web of grief from her Ma’s sudden passing when Pa stumbles home from the saloon with the announcement that slurs on his tongue. “There’s gold in Californee!” Jacob, Maggie’s twin brother, assures her that Pa won’t remember the gold in the morning. Jacob is wrong. Unprepared, the family sets off for the jumping off town of St. Joseph, each harboring a secret.
Danger lurks with every step of the perilous River crossings, violent storms, disease, Indians, wild animals. Death hovers like a threatening storm cloud, striking its wrath at random. Bruises from Pa’s abuse and anger from the subservient role Maggie is forced to endure bubble under her skin. She meets Eliot, whose aqua blue eyes and dimpled chin steals her heart. Then her world is upended when she discovers Jacob’s secret. She shuns him. When tragedy strikes, can the siblings rise above their acrimony and work together to reach their destination? And can Maggie dig deep within herself to learn tolerance and find forgiveness?
Click ‘Buy’ and discover whether Maggie survives the perilous journey—and the truth.
Two teenagers tasked with cleaning the attic find an old diary. They begin reading, their chores forgotten.
Missouri 1849: Maggie is strangling in a web of grief from her Ma’s sudden passing when Pa stumbles home from the saloon with the announcement that slurs on his tongue. “There’s gold in Californee!” Jacob, Maggie’s twin brother, assures her that Pa won’t remember the gold in the morning. Jacob is wrong. Unprepared, the family sets off for the jumping off town of St. Joseph, each harboring a secret.
Danger lurks with every step of the perilous River crossings, violent storms, disease, Indians, wild animals. Death hovers like a threatening storm cloud, striking its wrath at random. Bruises from Pa’s abuse and anger from the subservient role Maggie is forced to endure bubble under her skin. She meets Eliot, whose aqua blue eyes and dimpled chin steals her heart. Then her world is upended when she discovers Jacob’s secret. She shuns him. When tragedy strikes, can the siblings rise above their acrimony and work together to reach their destination? And can Maggie dig deep within herself to learn tolerance and find forgiveness?
Click ‘Buy’ and discover whether Maggie survives the perilous journey—and the truth.
355 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 28, 2025
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