Dawn on a Distant Shore
#2 in the Wilderness series
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4.6 • 12 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The sequel to the bestselling Into the Wilderness is an epic tale of romance and adventure, from the savage beauty of the New World to the wilds of Scotland.
It is February 1794, and while fiercely independent Elizabeth Bonner gives birth to twins, her husband, the frontiersman Nathaniel, learns that his father has been arrested in British Canada.
Forced to leave Hidden Wolf Mountain to help his father, Nathaniel – known by the Mohawk as ‘Between-Two-Lives’ – is himself imprisoned and in danger of being hanged as an American spy.
In a desperate bid to save her husband, Elizabeth bundles up her infants and sets out on the
dangerous trek to Canada. Once there, she discovers that freeing Nathaniel will take every ounce of her courage and inventiveness – and will even threaten her with the loss of what she loves most: her children.
Torn apart, the Bonners must embark on another perilous voyage, this time to the heart of Scotland, where a destiny they could never have imagined awaits them . . .
'A story of epic proportions, akin to those wonderful wilderness classics by James Fenimore Cooper, but with the modern twist of Diana Gabaldon' Romantic Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her second foray into the genre, Donati's sequel to Into the Wilderness continues the saga of hunter and trapper Nathaniel Bonner and his wife, Elizabeth, a couple living in upper New York State, America's eastern frontier at the end of the 18th century. As established in the first book, Nathaniel is the son of Scottish-born Daniel "Hawkeye" Bonner, who was raised by Mohawks. The drama is as intriguing as a TV miniseries, and in the conventions of the genre, the dialogue can be stilted and heavy-handed: "`I want you, yes,' she hissed. Because she could not lie to him, or herself. `But I can't, I can't.'" After celebrating the birth of twins, Nathaniel travels to Canada, where his father has been arrested by the British, to aid his escape. They are discovered, however, and Nathaniel, too, is imprisoned as a spy. Concerned that Nathaniel and Hawkeye will hang if convicted, a worried, brave Elizabeth treks through the wilderness to find her husband, taking along their babies and Nathaniel's 10-year-old daughter from his first marriage. Through a series of intrigues and deceptions, the twins are kidnapped and, to retrieve them, the Bonners are forced to sail to Scotland, where the Earl of Carryck, a distant relative, is determined that these long-lost American kin claim the castle that is their birthright. His motives for taking desperate measures to draw the Bonners to Scotland are political as well as personal, as the book's conclusion reveals. But before the pieces fall together, the adventurous couple encounter much adversity (redcoats, privateers and small-minded society types, to name a few) and many interesting people, like poet Robert Burns in a cameo appearance. In fact, there are so many folks passing through the story that Donati (a pseudonym for PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author Rosina Lippi-Green) thoughtfully provides a list of major characters. The likable protagonists, a multitude of amusing secondary characters and exciting escapades make this a compelling read despite the often overblown language and melodramatic plotting.
