Title: Where the Lost Wander
Author: Amy Harmon
Author: Amy Harmon
Pages: 348 pages
Published April 28th 2020 by Lake Union Publishing
Source: NetGalley
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2WsnKRH
GoodReads Description: "In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.
The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.
But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.
When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually… make peace with who they are."
What a beautiful book! I loved everything about this tale of strength and endurance! What people went through to journey to the west!
The book follows the May family and their journey to California. They are in a caravan with several other families and John Lowry, Pawnee name: Two Feet because he is half white and half Pawnee. I thought that this book accurately portrayed the complex relationship between whites and Native Americans during this time period. The culture clashes and misunderstandings. It is all very sad.
This book was emotionally charged. I cried every other page!! The story of Naomi May and John Lowry was lovely and their journey so fraught.
"The pain. It's worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. But it's worth it. It's the only thing that is."
And then you get to the end and find that it is based on her husband's ancestors' actual accounts? It read a lot like Dances With Wolves in John Lowry's parts and felt like someone's actual journal of the journey west. It turns out Amy Harmon actually used journals from one of her husband's ancestors in the creation of this novel! But they have more emotion in them than some that I've read.
So much heartbreak and hardship and yet... hope and romance.
"I've begun to hope, and I'm not sure I like the way it feels. It's a little like being thrown from a horse or a green mule and hitting the ground so hard the breath is chased from your chest. For a moment you think you're a goner. Then the air floods back in, and the relief is so strong you just lie there and suck it in. And you can't suck it in fast enough. That's what hope feels like: the best air you've ever breathed after the worst fall you've ever taken. It hurts."
A tale as beautiful as the cover!
MY RATING
Characters: 5
Story: 5
Overall: 5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!!
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