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Fiction. Literature. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:In her extraordinary novels Into the Wilderness and Dawn on a Distant Shore, award-winning writer Sara Donati deftly captured the vast, untamed wilderness of late-eighteenth-century New York and the trials and triumphs of the Bonner family. Now Donati takes on a new and often overlooked chapter in our nation’s past—and in the life of the spirited Bonners—as their oldest daughter, the brave and beautiful Hannah, comes of age with a show more challenge that will change her forever. Masterfully told, this passionate story is a moving tribute to a resilient, adventurous family and a people poised at the brink of a new century.It is the spring of 1802, and the village of Paradise is still reeling from the typhoid epidemic of the previous summer. Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner have lost their two-year-old son, Hannah’s half brother Robbie, but they struggle on as always: the men in the forests, the twins Lily and Daniel in Elizabeth’s school, and Hannah as a doctor in training, apprenticed to Richard Todd. Hannah is descended from healers on both sides—one Scots grandmother and one Mohawk—and her reputation as a skilled healer in her own right is growing.
After a long night spent attending to a birth, Elizabeth and Hannah encounter an escaped slave hiding on the mountain. She calls herself Selah Voyager, and she is looking for Curiosity Freeman—a former slave herself, one of the village’s wisest women and Elizabeth’s closest friend. The Bonners take Selah, desperately ill, to Lake in the Clouds to care for her, and with that simple act they are drawn into the secret life that Curiosity and Galileo Freeman and their grown children have been leading for almost ten years. The Bonners will do what they must to protect the Freemans, just as Hannah will protect her patient, who presents more than one kind of challenge. For a bounty hunter is afoot—Hannah’s childhood friend and first love, Liam Kirby.
While Elizabeth and Nathaniel undertake a treacherous journey through the endless forests to bring Selah to safety in the north, Hannah embarks on a very different journey to New-York City, with two goals: to learn the secrets of vaccination against smallpox, a disease that threatens Paradise, and to find out what she can about Liam’s immediate past and what caused him to change so drastically from the boy she once loved. The obstacles she faces as a woman and a Mohawk make her confront questions long avoided about her place in the world.
Those questions follow her back to Paradise, where she finds that the medical miracle she brings with her will not cure prejudice or superstition, nor can it solve the problem of slavery. No sooner have the Bonners begun to rebound from their losses—old and new—than they find themselves confronted by more than one old enemy in a battle that will test the strength of their love for one another. Hannah faces the decision she has always dreaded: will she make a life for herself in a white world, or among her mother’s people? show less
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This is the third book in Sara Donati's Wilderness series, featuring the Bonner family (and their friends and kin) of New York. This one takes place in 1802, eight years after the previous book.
Elizabeth Middleton Bonner, the female lead of the first two books, is still a player here, but the focus is on her stepdaughter Hannah, now 18 years old. A good part of the story takes place in New York City, where Hannah goes to learn how to inoculate against smallpox.
Learning about medical treatment in the early 1800s, and life in a large city then, was quite interesting - for both Hannah and this reader. You know too that, just as characters from previous books in the series reappear in this one, new characters introduced in this book show more (such as Dr. Savard) are bound to be in later books in this series.
There's also a lot of action back in Paradise, the fictional town in the real Adirondacks near Lake George and Saratoga, both of which I have visited. In both locations, runaway slaves and the efforts by some slaveholders to bypass the 1799 gradual manumission laws provide the impetus for an interesting story arc.
There's not as much romance in this book as in the first two in the series - which is a good thing, in my opinion, and causes me to classify it as historical fiction rather than historical romance. In fact there's so little romance that the conclusion for Hannah just doesn't ring true for me. Still, I will be continuing on with this series. Kate Reading's excellent narration in the audiobook certainly helps.
© Amanda Pape - 2016
[The audiobook, and a print copy for reference, were borrowed from and returned to public libraries.] show less
Elizabeth Middleton Bonner, the female lead of the first two books, is still a player here, but the focus is on her stepdaughter Hannah, now 18 years old. A good part of the story takes place in New York City, where Hannah goes to learn how to inoculate against smallpox.
Learning about medical treatment in the early 1800s, and life in a large city then, was quite interesting - for both Hannah and this reader. You know too that, just as characters from previous books in the series reappear in this one, new characters introduced in this book show more (such as Dr. Savard) are bound to be in later books in this series.
There's also a lot of action back in Paradise, the fictional town in the real Adirondacks near Lake George and Saratoga, both of which I have visited. In both locations, runaway slaves and the efforts by some slaveholders to bypass the 1799 gradual manumission laws provide the impetus for an interesting story arc.
There's not as much romance in this book as in the first two in the series - which is a good thing, in my opinion, and causes me to classify it as historical fiction rather than historical romance. In fact there's so little romance that the conclusion for Hannah just doesn't ring true for me. Still, I will be continuing on with this series. Kate Reading's excellent narration in the audiobook certainly helps.
© Amanda Pape - 2016
[The audiobook, and a print copy for reference, were borrowed from and returned to public libraries.] show less
I have really enjoyed this series so far. Although I don't normally read romance....I am enjoying the touch of romance in these novels. I find it's not too overdone and doesn't dominate the storyline which is always very entertaining. These novels are a great balance of good storytelling, characters you become very fond of, interesting historical aspect and a bit of romance.
Characters you care about through their heart-breaking losses. A plot you can sink your teeth into. Toe curling kisses with strong silent men. Abolitionists and the Underground railroad. Donati has a deep and uncanny understanding of human relationships and her humor is irresistible. Doesn't get any better than this.
Quotes;
"she knew exactly how it would be, down to the things she would say to each individual, and the way people would look at her.
She was not coming alone. All of her teachers were at her back; she would not shame them, or herself.
Strong-minded young women can no more be driven than a flock of cats."
Quotes;
"she knew exactly how it would be, down to the things she would say to each individual, and the way people would look at her.
She was not coming alone. All of her teachers were at her back; she would not shame them, or herself.
Strong-minded young women can no more be driven than a flock of cats."
Characters you care about through their heart-breaking losses. A plot you can sink your teeth into. Toe curling kisses with strong silent men. Abolitionists and the Underground railroad. Donati has a deep and uncanny understanding of human relationships and her humor is irresistible. Doesn't get any better than this.[return][return]Quotes;[return][return]"she knew exactly how it would be, down to the things she would say to each individual, and the way people would look at her.[return][return]She was not coming alone. All of her teachers were at her back; she would not shame them, or herself.[return][return]Strong-minded young women can no more be driven than a flock of cats."
This was an interesting read. Mostly the story of Hannah, a healer and would be a doctor if it wasn't an era that didn't really allow for women doctors. The story is all about how she finds her role in life and how she grows up. Intertwined with her life is the life of her village. With all the politics and back-stabbing of a small community Sara Donati creates an interesting and fun read.
I'm glad that I looked it up and will be hunting further copies, and have already recommended it to friends.
I'm glad that I looked it up and will be hunting further copies, and have already recommended it to friends.
The third novel in the Wilderness series. There are some very disturbing mental images here, but some very good storytelling too, with three-dimensional characters (especially the new ones -- with the exception of Hannah and Curiosity, I find the characters we already knew from the previous two books to be perhaps a little flat in this one).
As usual Sara Donati spins an interesting tale. I've read three in this series and I think I've had enough.
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28+ Works 8,903 Members
Rosina Lippi was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 14, 1956. She received a PhD in linguistics from Princeton University. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a professor. She writes the Wilderness series under the pen name Sara Donati. Her title The Gilded Hour is a New York Times bestseller. (Bowker Author Biography)
Sara Donati is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Lake in the Clouds
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth Middleton Bonner; Nathaniel Bonner; Hannah Bonner; Daniel Bonner (Hawkeye); Lily Bonner; Many-Doves (show all 10); Runs-from-Bears; Curiosity Freeman; Richard Todd; Liam Kirby
- Important places
- New York, New York, USA; Northern New York Sate, USA (New York, USA); Paradise, New York, USA
- Dedication
- For Jill Grinberg
- First words
- In the spring of Elizabeth Middleton Bonner's thirty-eighth year, when she believed herself to be settled, secure, and well beyond adventure, Selah Voyager came to Paradise.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"I don't doubt it for a moment."
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- Members
- 997
- Popularity
- 26,034
- Reviews
- 20
- Rating
- (4.23)
- Languages
- English, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 19
- ASINs
- 5
