First published 2023
Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Leavitt stands in the Northwest Territories of Canada, surrounded by the harsh wilderness her Mormon family now calls home. After traveling by covered wagon from Utah, she watches her father and brothers establish their homestead alongside other Latter-Day Saints. Rebecca faces pressure to marry, with suitors like the exciting Levi Howard and her thoughtful childhood friend Coby Webster vying for her attention. But Rebecca wants something different. She wants her own piece of this wild land. When she discovers that single women cannot homestead, her father offers a deal: earn 480 dollars and he will buy her the land outright. Rebecca sets out to earn this enormous sum while battling the relentless challenges of pioneer existence. Blizzards, grizzly bears, influenza, and floods test her resolve. Difficult neighbors and the fragility of frontier life push her to her limits. Through her struggle to remain true to herself in a world that expects conformity, Rebecca discovers that family bonds, faith, friendship, and even romance connect her to the unpredictable territory she loves.
Genres: family, american-fiction, 20th-century, american, adventure, coming-of-age, canadian-literature, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Canada, Northwest Territories, Utah
Period: 19th Century, 20th Century
232 pages · Hardcover · Margaret Ferguson Books