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‘Where am I?’ I asked.
‘You’re in Illinois,’ the old man said.
‘So, I’m in a free state?’
The men laughed. ‘Boy, you’re in America.’

Every single woman in this book is pregnant either in wedlock or out of it. Every single one.

It’s a compelling story but the anachronisms are unfortunate and (sometimes) glaring. ‘Adrenaline’ is not easily forgiven in an 18th century setting 🙈 I’ve found with reading and writing historical fiction, it is always the throwaway small lines that trip people up.

Well written but I’m still struggling with the main character who seems to want to one-up everyone regardless of the damage she is causing. And I can’t forgive a mention of zips in 1789, 150 years or so before their invention and 50+ years before you could maybe get away with a mention at a huge stretch.

Not sure how I feel about the main character or narrative voice yet. It feels historical....until it doesn't.

‘The crunch of footsteps on snow crust: a dragging, halting gait – no, not a gait, it sounds…it sounds as if it’s on all fours.’

I read this book eight years ago and I still remember reading that moment for the first time.