First published 1986
Jamie McPheeters travels west from Louisville with his bombastic father, Dr. Sardius McPheeters, chasing California gold in 1849. The wagon train faces constant threats from cutthroats, hostile Indians, disease, and murder as they cross untamed territory. Jamie watches everything with clear young eyes: brutal violence like the skinning alive of a depraved bully, his father's incorrigible boasting, and intimate moments like maidenly Jennie undressing for bed. The journey tests everyone aboard the wagon train, revealing which travelers prove heroic and which turn mean when survival demands harsh choices. Crisis follows crisis as the expedition pushes toward distant California through pastoral landscapes that hide deadly dangers. Jamie's coming of age unfolds against this backdrop of bloodshed, romance, and wonder at an unexplored land where civilization's rules no longer apply.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, coming-of-age, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Louisville, California
Period: 1849
544 pages · Paperback · Arbor House Publishing
Content warnings: death, violence