Land of the Blue Mist: A Story of Courage, Love & Survival in the Blue Ridge Mountains

by Susan Mallgrave

In the tradition of Jean Auel, Charles Frazier, and Tony Hillerman comes a work of historical fiction...
Land of the Blue A Novel of Courage, Love, and Survival.

The Principal People, known as Cherokees by others, have lived for millennia in the place they call the Land of the Blue Mist. Much of their ancestral land has been taken, over decades. But still more land is demanded.

Aster Sweetwater comes of age in this time of fierce pressure on her tribe in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sent to boarding school to learn so-called civilized ways, she returns home to help her people fight forced removal from their mountains and valleys. But Aster returns home not knowing where she belongs. Who are her people? Should she remain in the Land of the Blue Mist or leave the only home she’s ever known, to search for her missing father?

After gold is discovered in Georgia in 1828 and the Indian Removal Act is passed two years later, the crisis intensifies, ending with U.S. troops invading Aster’s village.

Not all Cherokees will travel the deadly Trail of Tears to the West. Having escaped capture, but with her family torn apart and her life shattered, Aster must find a way for a remnant of her people to survive in the Land of the Blue Mist.

263 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 13, 2022

Reviews

[Scuffed Granny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and the perspective that it offered to show: of a girl, very much a part of two worlds, with a British father and a Cherokee mother, who is encouraged by her father to engage in the wider world outside of her village, in a bid to provide her people with the means to survive in a world which is attempting to deny their place in it and remove them from their ancestral lands.

It is truly a battle for survival and Aster encounters challenges both within her village and family as well as external to it and Mallgrave shows this well in her creation of characters, her dialogue and her plot.

Aster is a lively character and we follow her through her life, from girl sent away to school to learn the ways of the European Americans, to the woman with children, who becomes a figurehead in her village.

Mallgrave is good at showing with a light hand the choices that Native Americans faced - which were limited due to the acquisitive nature of government and the superior attitude of most towards them. In both Aster's father and grandfather, she shows the awareness that in order to survive, you have to learn to adapt, even if this goes against everything that you have known before. However, there is also a sense that to remember where you come from and what is important to you is also crucial to maintain a sense of self and the importance of continuing in a way which has the bones of familiarity to you, even if not completely the same.

I toyed with the star rating for this book until ultimately plumping for 4 stars as I did enjoy the book, was interested to know what would happen, had no difficulty reading it, and felt like, for the most part, it was very well-written with a clear sense of place and purpose. However, I did sometimes feel like some of the more dramatic scenes in the book could have had more depth considering the weight of loss that some of them would create and the impact on lives as a result.

That being said, the book is a good read - quick and easy to read with characters with whom you can identify and will to succeed, as well as an element of the spiritual and the glory of nature.

[Jean Durbahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The character development and scenic imagery hooked me from the first chapter. The author does a great job of intertwining history of forced removal of Cherokees by the US government and the efforts made by tribes to “become civilized” so they could retain their land, only to be removed anyway. The journey of the characters is full of courage and persistence when faced with insurmountable challenges.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the beautiful area in which we live. Well written from the Native American point of view.
Well done

[Holly Lawrenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. It definitely held my interest and was hard to put down at times. When it ended I wanted to hear the rest of the story. Can’t wait for the sequel to come out.