The Bark Covered House

The canal boat struck the bank just as young William slipped into the water. His father caught his hand—and pulled him back from what might have been the end of the journey to Michigan.

In the 1830s, the Nowlin family leaves a stony farm in New York for the forests of Michigan, drawn by promises of fertile soil and land they can call their own. Father John is determined to go; mother Melinda fears illness, Indians, bears, wolves, and a wilderness that may swallow her family. William, the eldest child, dreads losing his schoolmates and home, yet he must shoulder a shotgun and travel through storms, snow, and perilous waterways. The road west is already testing them—but what waits beyond the lakes and forests?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.