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A Place to Call Home #1
Cherokee Rose
The Brutal Road West
It’s late summer 1838. President Martin Van Buren issues an order that the fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina are to be evicted from their homeland. Forced to migrate to Indian Territory, the Cherokees begin their tragic, one-thousand-mile journey westward. Most of the seven thousand soldiers escorting them along the way are brutally cruel. But Cherokee Rose, an eighteen-year-old Indian girl, finds one soldier, Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, willing to stand up for them. Both Christians, Cherokee Rose discovers that Britt is also a quarter Cherokee himself. It’s upon the Trail of Tears that they fall in love, dreaming of one day marrying and finding a place to call home together.
They found each other in the midst of tragedy…
But is their love enough to keep them together?
Cherokee Rose has endured more than any eighteen-year-old girl should. Though accepted by her tribe, being both mixed blood and a Christian set her apart. Then fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians are evicted from their homes in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Broken and angry, Cherokee Rose joins her people on the thousand-mile trek westward to Indian Territory. The journey holds many trials—not the least of which is the cruelty of the soldiers escorting them. But Cherokee Rose is these men will not break her.
Lieutenant Britt Claiborne is devoted to serving his country, but he detests the way his fellow soldiers treat the Indians. He not only refuses to join in, but does all he can to stop the abuse. To the soldiers, he is a traitor. To those he helps, a champion. But Britt knows he’s only doing what he must, not just because he’s a Christian, but for a reason he’s reluctant to reveal.
Thrown together in the face of brutality, these two find themselves falling in love. They dream of marrying and finding a place to call home. But can their love survive the Trail of Tears?
“ Cherokee Rose is a good story and a great way to learn about a historical event we would rather sweep under the rug.” --Lauraine Snelling, bestselling author of Amethyst
Story Behind the Book
Long captivated with the study of American history, Al and JoAnna Lacy eagerly researched the time in the 1800s when the five “civilized tribes” were forced by the U.S. government to make a one-thousand-mile journey to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). The tribes were the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Seminole. Repeatedly forced to surrender their lands, the people of the Cherokee Nation, as well as those of the other four tribes, were hoping to find in Indian Territory a place to call home .
It’s late summer 1838. President Martin Van Buren issues an order that the fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina are to be evicted from their homeland. Forced to migrate to Indian Territory, the Cherokees begin their tragic, one-thousand-mile journey westward. Most of the seven thousand soldiers escorting them along the way are brutally cruel. But Cherokee Rose, an eighteen-year-old Indian girl, finds one soldier, Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, willing to stand up for them. Both Christians, Cherokee Rose discovers that Britt is also a quarter Cherokee himself. It’s upon the Trail of Tears that they fall in love, dreaming of one day marrying and finding a place to call home together.
They found each other in the midst of tragedy…
But is their love enough to keep them together?
Cherokee Rose has endured more than any eighteen-year-old girl should. Though accepted by her tribe, being both mixed blood and a Christian set her apart. Then fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians are evicted from their homes in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Broken and angry, Cherokee Rose joins her people on the thousand-mile trek westward to Indian Territory. The journey holds many trials—not the least of which is the cruelty of the soldiers escorting them. But Cherokee Rose is these men will not break her.
Lieutenant Britt Claiborne is devoted to serving his country, but he detests the way his fellow soldiers treat the Indians. He not only refuses to join in, but does all he can to stop the abuse. To the soldiers, he is a traitor. To those he helps, a champion. But Britt knows he’s only doing what he must, not just because he’s a Christian, but for a reason he’s reluctant to reveal.
Thrown together in the face of brutality, these two find themselves falling in love. They dream of marrying and finding a place to call home. But can their love survive the Trail of Tears?
“ Cherokee Rose is a good story and a great way to learn about a historical event we would rather sweep under the rug.” --Lauraine Snelling, bestselling author of Amethyst
Story Behind the Book
Long captivated with the study of American history, Al and JoAnna Lacy eagerly researched the time in the 1800s when the five “civilized tribes” were forced by the U.S. government to make a one-thousand-mile journey to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). The tribes were the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Seminole. Repeatedly forced to surrender their lands, the people of the Cherokee Nation, as well as those of the other four tribes, were hoping to find in Indian Territory a place to call home .
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Al Lacy
109 books90 followersAl Lacy has written more than ninety novels, including the Angel of Mercy, Battles of Destiny, and Journeys of the Stranger series. He and his wife, JoAnna Lacy, are coauthors of the Mail Order Bride, Hannah of Fort Bridger, and Shadow of Liberty series. The Lacys make their home in the Colorado Rockies.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 3, 2016
I'm pasting in the review I posted on Amazon.com:
I am a Christian who loves to read well-written Christian historical fiction. However, I see far too often the mindset that as long as the book has a Christian message, the writing can be mediocre. This is wrong. Christian writers should strive to be the best at their craft! They should take more pains with accuracy, because they have a vital interest in the truth, and if they want to be a witness, their writing has to be able to capture the reader's interest and heart. A PLACE TO CALL HOME does not accomplish this. I have not been able to bring myself to read the entire book, therefore this review is based upon what I have read.
The book's problems are manifold. Dialogue is painfully stilted; the narrative is wooden. Historical and cultural accuracy is lacking throughout. The book is a work of fiction, and perhaps the authors think the disclaimer on the copyright page means it doesn't matter if liberties are taken with fact. However, liberties taken should be few and minor. The historical errors in this book are not due to a lack of good information. I found all the information I cite below quite easily, using a few books and the internet for research. I would be happy to provide sources if readers wish to have them. These are only a few of the problems in the book:
1. In the foreword, the Lacys say that Sequoyah was born "around 1773 in North Carolina." They present this as historical fact. The year and place of Sequoyah's birth are uncertain because there is no written record, but he is thought to have been born in the Cherokee village of Tuskegee, Tennessee (near today's Vonore, TN), where historian James Mooney wrote that he lived as a child. He may have been born as early as 1760-1765. He apparently moved from Tennessee to Georgia to Alabama; I found no mention of him living in North Carolina. Sequoyah never learned to speak or read English, was not a Christian, and did NOT translate the Bible into Cherokee. According to Wikipedia, the translation of the New Testament into Cherokee was undertaken by several men (among them Samuel Worcester and Elias Boudinot) over a span of years beginning in 1824, and was not printed until 1850. There still is not a complete translation of the Bible into Cherokee.
2. John Ross, born in Turkeytown, Alabama instead of North Carolina, was 1/8 Cherokee, not 1/4. However, the Cherokee would have accepted him as full-blood because to them, descent is matrilineal; the mother's blood determines what the child is. If the mother is Cherokee, the child is all Cherokee, regardless of the father's heritage. John's mother, Molly Ross, was 3/4 Scottish by patrilineal reckoning, but to the Cherokee, she was completely Cherokee. The Lacys are inaccurate by either method, calling John Ross 1/4 Cherokee. He did not speak Cherokee well, as he was educated in the white world. He probably did not meet Sequoyah until after the Trail of Tears, and certainly would not have been chumming around with him as a child, as they were born and raised in different places.
3. Chapter One: Pathkiller refers to Molly Ross as a "half-breed." Not only is it inaccurate to say she was half Cherokee, but the term "half-breed" has a derogatory connotation, and no chief would have applied it to one of his own people.
4. Chapter Two: The setting switches to Gatlinburg, TN and the home of a white family living there. The date given is May 1801. However, the settlement that became Gatlinburg got started in the decade after 1806. Gatlinburg was named in 1856.
5. Chapter Two: Four Cherokee boys ride into Bryson City, NC to retrieve a stolen horse, and get in trouble because of a rule that the Cherokee may not enter the white towns. There are two problems here. First, there was no such rule. The actual law was that the white settlers were not allowed to enter the Cherokee towns without permission. Next, the action here takes place in 1801, but the first white settlements in that area started about 1809, and Bryson City did not exist until after the Trail of Tears. Bryson City was originally called Charleston, founded in 1871 and incorporated in 1887. It was renamed Bryson City in 1889.
6. Chapter Three: A Cherokee father disciplines his son by whipping him with a strap, but Cherokee did not use this form of discipline. Moreover, a father was not allowed to punish his children because he belonged to a different clan. Discipline was left to the mother or the mother's oldest brother. Granted, things changed gradually as the Cherokee assimilated, but such a scenario would still have been fairly unlikely in 1801.
7. Many names used by the Lacys in their book are not Cherokee names. Bando and Binjie are not (there is no B sound in Cherokee), nor is Tisimndo (Cherokee can't have that grouping of consonants) or Ridino (no R sound). Naya and Haylee can be rendered in the Cherokee syllabary, but are not Cherokee names.
8. I have not read this far, but I am told that the Lacys ignore the fact that before they were sent on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee were forced into wooden stockades, where they were held for several months before their journey west began. Why would they leave this important fact unmentioned?
I cannot recommend A PLACE TO CALL HOME to anyone, and I do not plan to read any more of the Cherokee Rose series. Al and Joanna Lacy have written many books and have a good reputation in the world of Christian historical fiction, but their efforts with this book were far from adequate. I sincerely hope this was a temporary lapse on their part.
I am a Christian who loves to read well-written Christian historical fiction. However, I see far too often the mindset that as long as the book has a Christian message, the writing can be mediocre. This is wrong. Christian writers should strive to be the best at their craft! They should take more pains with accuracy, because they have a vital interest in the truth, and if they want to be a witness, their writing has to be able to capture the reader's interest and heart. A PLACE TO CALL HOME does not accomplish this. I have not been able to bring myself to read the entire book, therefore this review is based upon what I have read.
The book's problems are manifold. Dialogue is painfully stilted; the narrative is wooden. Historical and cultural accuracy is lacking throughout. The book is a work of fiction, and perhaps the authors think the disclaimer on the copyright page means it doesn't matter if liberties are taken with fact. However, liberties taken should be few and minor. The historical errors in this book are not due to a lack of good information. I found all the information I cite below quite easily, using a few books and the internet for research. I would be happy to provide sources if readers wish to have them. These are only a few of the problems in the book:
1. In the foreword, the Lacys say that Sequoyah was born "around 1773 in North Carolina." They present this as historical fact. The year and place of Sequoyah's birth are uncertain because there is no written record, but he is thought to have been born in the Cherokee village of Tuskegee, Tennessee (near today's Vonore, TN), where historian James Mooney wrote that he lived as a child. He may have been born as early as 1760-1765. He apparently moved from Tennessee to Georgia to Alabama; I found no mention of him living in North Carolina. Sequoyah never learned to speak or read English, was not a Christian, and did NOT translate the Bible into Cherokee. According to Wikipedia, the translation of the New Testament into Cherokee was undertaken by several men (among them Samuel Worcester and Elias Boudinot) over a span of years beginning in 1824, and was not printed until 1850. There still is not a complete translation of the Bible into Cherokee.
2. John Ross, born in Turkeytown, Alabama instead of North Carolina, was 1/8 Cherokee, not 1/4. However, the Cherokee would have accepted him as full-blood because to them, descent is matrilineal; the mother's blood determines what the child is. If the mother is Cherokee, the child is all Cherokee, regardless of the father's heritage. John's mother, Molly Ross, was 3/4 Scottish by patrilineal reckoning, but to the Cherokee, she was completely Cherokee. The Lacys are inaccurate by either method, calling John Ross 1/4 Cherokee. He did not speak Cherokee well, as he was educated in the white world. He probably did not meet Sequoyah until after the Trail of Tears, and certainly would not have been chumming around with him as a child, as they were born and raised in different places.
3. Chapter One: Pathkiller refers to Molly Ross as a "half-breed." Not only is it inaccurate to say she was half Cherokee, but the term "half-breed" has a derogatory connotation, and no chief would have applied it to one of his own people.
4. Chapter Two: The setting switches to Gatlinburg, TN and the home of a white family living there. The date given is May 1801. However, the settlement that became Gatlinburg got started in the decade after 1806. Gatlinburg was named in 1856.
5. Chapter Two: Four Cherokee boys ride into Bryson City, NC to retrieve a stolen horse, and get in trouble because of a rule that the Cherokee may not enter the white towns. There are two problems here. First, there was no such rule. The actual law was that the white settlers were not allowed to enter the Cherokee towns without permission. Next, the action here takes place in 1801, but the first white settlements in that area started about 1809, and Bryson City did not exist until after the Trail of Tears. Bryson City was originally called Charleston, founded in 1871 and incorporated in 1887. It was renamed Bryson City in 1889.
6. Chapter Three: A Cherokee father disciplines his son by whipping him with a strap, but Cherokee did not use this form of discipline. Moreover, a father was not allowed to punish his children because he belonged to a different clan. Discipline was left to the mother or the mother's oldest brother. Granted, things changed gradually as the Cherokee assimilated, but such a scenario would still have been fairly unlikely in 1801.
7. Many names used by the Lacys in their book are not Cherokee names. Bando and Binjie are not (there is no B sound in Cherokee), nor is Tisimndo (Cherokee can't have that grouping of consonants) or Ridino (no R sound). Naya and Haylee can be rendered in the Cherokee syllabary, but are not Cherokee names.
8. I have not read this far, but I am told that the Lacys ignore the fact that before they were sent on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee were forced into wooden stockades, where they were held for several months before their journey west began. Why would they leave this important fact unmentioned?
I cannot recommend A PLACE TO CALL HOME to anyone, and I do not plan to read any more of the Cherokee Rose series. Al and Joanna Lacy have written many books and have a good reputation in the world of Christian historical fiction, but their efforts with this book were far from adequate. I sincerely hope this was a temporary lapse on their part.
June 22, 2020
DNF
This has been a bit of a slow struggle to even pass the 1/3 mark...
I’m not DNFing because of something I hated, it has simply been going too slow. A bit meandering.
I crossed the 1/3 mark and we still hadn’t met the book’s namesake yet.
It does a lot of jumping. Like, it will share a scene (with heavy exposition) and then years have passed with the turn of a page.
The couple we meet 100 pages in, is some serious instalove. Also, here is an excerpt from page 111 (moments after they were introduced to each other):
Naya was watching two large birds that were high in a tree, looking down at them. She stumbled on a broken tree limb, and Walugo grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.
Naya looked at him and smiled. “How clumsy of me. Thank you.”
Walugo smiles back. “That was not being clumsy, Naya. Your attention was simply on those two birds up there.”
“Well if it had not been for you, I would have fallen on the ground.”
“I wish I could always be close to you so I could help you whenever you needed me,” he said, still holding onto her.
It’s just so stiff and robotic.
This has been a bit of a slow struggle to even pass the 1/3 mark...
I’m not DNFing because of something I hated, it has simply been going too slow. A bit meandering.
I crossed the 1/3 mark and we still hadn’t met the book’s namesake yet.
It does a lot of jumping. Like, it will share a scene (with heavy exposition) and then years have passed with the turn of a page.
The couple we meet 100 pages in, is some serious instalove. Also, here is an excerpt from page 111 (moments after they were introduced to each other):
Naya was watching two large birds that were high in a tree, looking down at them. She stumbled on a broken tree limb, and Walugo grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling.
Naya looked at him and smiled. “How clumsy of me. Thank you.”
Walugo smiles back. “That was not being clumsy, Naya. Your attention was simply on those two birds up there.”
“Well if it had not been for you, I would have fallen on the ground.”
“I wish I could always be close to you so I could help you whenever you needed me,” he said, still holding onto her.
It’s just so stiff and robotic.
July 3, 2021
I read this book because it takes place in my favorite place, the Smoky Mountains, and because it was about the Cherokee nation, which I am interested in. It had though many inaccuracies. I know this is a book of fiction, but is needs to be historically accurate. One other review has already pointed out several inaccuracies, but here are some I found.
1. The towns mentioned in the book, Whittier, Bryson City, and Gatlinburg, were not even founded at the time in the book (early 1800s). They were not founded until the mid-1800s. This was found by a short internet search.
2. The book points out that there were Cherokees in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. The Smokies are found in both North Carolina and Tennessee and they are a part of the Appalachian range.
3. It said that Martin Van Buren wanted the Indians out of his home state of North Carolina. While he was born in North Carolina, he represented the state of Tennessee.
4. To use the term "half-breed" is derogatory.
5. There are several discrepancies about John Ross and Sequoyah. See the other reviewers post on this.
Besides the inaccuracies, I found the writing to be very amateurish.
1. The towns mentioned in the book, Whittier, Bryson City, and Gatlinburg, were not even founded at the time in the book (early 1800s). They were not founded until the mid-1800s. This was found by a short internet search.
2. The book points out that there were Cherokees in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. The Smokies are found in both North Carolina and Tennessee and they are a part of the Appalachian range.
3. It said that Martin Van Buren wanted the Indians out of his home state of North Carolina. While he was born in North Carolina, he represented the state of Tennessee.
4. To use the term "half-breed" is derogatory.
5. There are several discrepancies about John Ross and Sequoyah. See the other reviewers post on this.
Besides the inaccuracies, I found the writing to be very amateurish.
November 28, 2025
I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed. The Lee was little depth of character, the whole story arc was incredibly predictable, and the dialogue was so awkward and stilted. I did not know going in it was Christian fiction, but even so the injection of scripture and the Lord this and the Lord that seemed way overdone. The story of the Trail of Tears is an important one to tell. It’s unfortunate this book just doesn’t do it justice.
June 7, 2017
As a historical fiction book with a Christian story, it was a nice read. Historically, it is not 100% accurate but we have to remember the story is fiction.
As a creative work, I do not see the book winning awards. For a relaxing read that focuses on the Trail of Tears and a budding relationship, it was a good read.
As a creative work, I do not see the book winning awards. For a relaxing read that focuses on the Trail of Tears and a budding relationship, it was a good read.
March 17, 2019
I thought that it was sad that the Cherokees were forced out of their homeland when they were here first. I also thought that it was pretty romantic with the soldier.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2022
Well written, engaging...very good historical novel
September 21, 2016
This was the first Al Lacy book that I have read. I was not disappointed.
It may not have been exactly historically accurate.. but I mean, it's a FICTION book! Don't read it if you want a full on History lesson. Personally I wasn't looking for a History lesson.
The four stars is because it started slow... Some parts felt unrealistic. The dialogue at times felt unnatural. But looking past those things, I found a quite intriguing book.
I enjoyed the fictional story line in the true events. I will definitely read the rest of the series! I appreciated the Scripture verses, and especially that they were the King James Version.
I know that the main character was Cherokee Rose and I did like her and Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, but honestly my favorites were Layne and Sylvia Ward. They were training preachers, volunteering to make the unnecessary (for them) journey, caring for the sick at risk of their own health (and possible death), preaching funerals, digging graves, and leading people of all sorts and circumstances to Salvation in Christ Jesus!
This was a very good book! You can be sure that I will be reading many more of Al Lacy's books!
It may not have been exactly historically accurate.. but I mean, it's a FICTION book! Don't read it if you want a full on History lesson. Personally I wasn't looking for a History lesson.
The four stars is because it started slow... Some parts felt unrealistic. The dialogue at times felt unnatural. But looking past those things, I found a quite intriguing book.
I enjoyed the fictional story line in the true events. I will definitely read the rest of the series! I appreciated the Scripture verses, and especially that they were the King James Version.
I know that the main character was Cherokee Rose and I did like her and Lieutenant Britt Claiborne, but honestly my favorites were Layne and Sylvia Ward. They were training preachers, volunteering to make the unnecessary (for them) journey, caring for the sick at risk of their own health (and possible death), preaching funerals, digging graves, and leading people of all sorts and circumstances to Salvation in Christ Jesus!
This was a very good book! You can be sure that I will be reading many more of Al Lacy's books!
April 12, 2011
I was hoping it was going to be more about a couple who fall in love on the "Trail of Tears" and it was more of a history book re: US government, Sequayah and Chief John Ross. There were parts that were only included to show the despair and death on the trail.
Review
Review
September 10, 2013
This was certainly an educational and even interesting read. I just wasn't able to become deeply Immersed in it like I would have preferred. It's good if you're perhaps looking into the history of the Cherokee Indians.
January 18, 2010
I learned alot about the Cherokee history, but didn't really feel the closeness with the characters that I usually do with Christian fiction.
May 31, 2011
Not by favorite bookby the Lacys, but it was pretty good.
August 28, 2015
Very good story. But, heartbreaking to read how the Indians were treated so badly. It's just horrible to me that the land was stolen from them.
December 23, 2016
Very interesting, nice to know not everyone distrusted and hated the Indians. The Indians were portrayed as kind,intelegent and loving
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December 4, 2008YA Lac
August 10, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews