First published 1911
Mary Musgrove, daughter of a Creek chief, watches colonial Georgia tear itself apart in revolution. The frontier demands impossible choices from her mixed heritage family. She bears two sons to different fathers: one to a white trader, another to a Cherokee warrior. As America expands westward, her sons inherit opposing loyalties that will define their lives. The Trail of Tears forces one path while the Civil War demands another. Brothers become enemies across battle lines neither chose. Mary's bloodline spans generations of violence as white settlers push Native peoples from ancestral lands. Her family's survival depends on navigating a world that sees them as obstacles to progress. Through decades of displacement and war, the Musgrove family endures losses that reshape the American continent.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, native-american, american-history
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Georgia, Cherokee
Period: Trail of Tears, Civil War
Hardcover · Henry Holt & Co
Content warnings: colonialism, violence, war