The Open Road

by M.M. Holaday

After four years of adventure in the frontier, Win Avery returns to his hometown on the edge of the prairie and tracks down his childhood friend, Jeb Dawson. Jeb has just lost his parents, and, in his efforts to console him, Win convinces his friend to travel west with him to see the frontier before it is settled, while it is still unspoiled wilderness. They embark on a free-spirited adventure, but their journey sidetracks when they befriend Meg Jameson, an accomplished horsewoman, lost on the Nebraska prairie. Traveling together through the Rocky Mountain foothills, they run into Gray Wolf, an Arapaho determined to live on his own terms off the reservation. As their paths and purposes converge, the course of each of their lives changes forever. Although the open road continues to call to Win, and Meg moves forward with her plans to ranch with the aged liveryman who raised her, the bonds between the four friends tie their fates together through the decades that follow, as they fight the forces striving to close the frontier and as they witness a way of life disappear."

Genres: Historical Fiction

445 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful story of the American frontier, well researched, and as sweeping as the landscape it portrays. The juxtaposition of the idyllic picture of hardworking, happy settlers with the ugliness of displacing a Native American population facing devastating cultural loss is handled well and is the most compelling part of the book. I wish the narration had been a little closer to the characters so I might have felt their successes and losses more deeply, but I did find the characters endearing and their stories reached satisfying endings. I would think any fan of frontier historical fiction would be pleased with this very touching book.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do enjoy western novels and The Open Road proved to be a warm and embracing read that took me over the plains and into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The book introduces characters who you grow to love and follows our country’s history pointing out both its greatness and its failures as the west was settled. I enjoyed this story and even cried at one point - that is when I know an author really pulled me in! This is Ms. Holaday’s first novel and it is a great read.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed this debut novel. Beautifully written story!

[Sumner Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book. I looked for more at the end, though. Read my entire review on Amazon.

[Frank Breitenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining book about the west.

[OnceUponATime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an historical fiction buff, though frontier fiction isn’t normally my genre. What I like are stories with an underlying message, and I read for descriptive precision of language. I got these in The Open Road. This story about a triangle of friendship skirts being a western romance, though it does prop up a hidden romance of a different type: pining the loss of the frontier and “what might have been” if everyone had at the time put a value on natural wilderness and a positive relationship with the American Indian. In historical fiction, there are always interesting tidbits to be learned as well. When a book sends me to Google to try to find out if something or someone was fact or author's imagination, that's a good sign. This is a very good debut by M.M. Holaday.