About the Book
Book: The Maiden and the Mountie
Author: Denise Farnsworth writing as Denise Weimer
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
A marriage of necessity. A secret buried deep. In Georgia’s gold country, love may be the most dangerous treasure of all.
Gage Edmonds plans to use his engineering degree to blaze new roads in the Southern frontier—but first, he must follow in the footsteps of his war hero father and prove he’s worthy of their family name. His assignment to the Georgia Mounted Militia puts him between gold-hungry settlers and Cherokees soon to be forced from their homes. The local miller’s captivating daughter, Anna Walker, makes him question everything he thought he wanted. Grieved at the treatment of the peaceful Cherokees, Gage chooses not to re-enlist but agrees to work as a translator, even if it might cost him his chance at redemption.
Daughter of a European mother and Cherokee father, Anna has seen the way new settlers have pushed her father’s people out of their homes. She vowed never to fall for a white man. Least of all, a soldier. Yet when Sergeant Edwards endangers himself to keep the peace during a clash at her father’s gristmill, she admits there’s something honorable about him. Over Anna’s protests, her father seeks to secure her future in Gage’s hands.
On the eve of eviction, members of a local village hide their gold, trusting Anna with its safekeeping until they can return. When dangerous men discover the secret, she’s forced to rely on Gage for protection. But just as she begins to trust him, a secret her father has kept threatens to tear them apart. Can Anna trust this soldier with the truth—and her heart?
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My Thoughts:
I have really been enjoying this historical series, Twenty-Niners Georgia Gold Rush, and how this gold rush affected the Georgia state and those who lived where the gold was found. In this account the gold is on Cherokee land. The Cherokees who have long adopted American ways and have already established their homes and towns here. Unfortunately, there is no boundaries for human greed, even that greed sanctioned by the government.
So here we find Anna, daughter of a Cherokee father and European mother, alongside Gage former military now wanting to help his beloved grandmother by marriage people. Anna and her father are just trying to keep their land and gristmill. Gage wants to help all he can, all the while falling in love with Anna as well.
Then Anna's father has a plan to keep the land. Have Anna marry Gage. A marriage of convenience to protect all. This does not sit well with Anna. Among dissenting loyalties, greedy neighbors, and a grim outlook, Anna and Gage must fight for what is right and rely on their faith. And they must learn to do this together as danger and possible disaster awaits just around the corner.
I found this historical tale fascinating and learning about the Cherokee misfortune that would lead later to the Trail of Tears.
I was provided a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review, and all views and opinions are my own.
About the Author
More from Denise
The vanished pieces of our history have always intrigued me as an author. Houses, towns, lives that were once so vital but now of which there is no trace left except in books and oral accounts. For The Maiden and the Mountie, tales about two vanished things caught my attention when I lived near Cumming, Georgia—a Cherokee removal fort and Cherokee gold. Local historians have long debated the location of Fort Buffington and legends of Cherokee gold hidden in tunnels with secret vaults and deadfalls…or buried in clay pots, some of which were reported to have been found.
The second book of my Twenty-Niners of the Georgia Gold Rush series is set during the fall and winter of 1837. Gold had been found in the late 1820s on Cherokee land, land which was then divvied up in a state lottery. Lottery winners prepared to move onto farming lots of a hundred and sixty acres or mining lots of forty acres. Much of that property already had “improvements”—homes, outbuildings, and businesses. The majority of the Cherokee people had “Americanized,” adopting the clothing, religion, language, and farming and business methods of their white neighbors. That did not stop property- and gold-hungry settlers from taking Native American land.
Some Cherokees moved to Oklahoma Territory before the May 1838 deadline set by the national government. Others lingered until the last, fed by rumors and hopes that the legal efforts of their leaders in Washington would succeed. Many of them endured harassment by Pony Club members. Eventually, the remaining Cherokees were rounded up by mounted militia, forced into hastily constructed removal forts, and escorted on the tragic winter march that became known as the Trail of Tears.
No doubt about it—this is grave subject matter. But wouldn’t writing a trilogy about the Georgia Gold Rush without including an account of the Cherokee Removal be an even graver disservice to the actual history and the proud people who endured it?
The Maiden and the Mountie focuses on the mixed-blood Cherokee family of the heroine, Anna Walker, whose father operates a gristmill—another setting unique to fiction but so vital to nineteenth-century communities. For this angle of the story, I was able to draw on my brief stint as a county employee when I spent some time as a docent at Freeman’s Mill in Gwinnett County. The hero, Gage Edmonds, yearns to live up to his father’s military record and at the same time defend the heritage of his Cherokee grandmother-by-marriage. The conflict he rides into as a member of the Georgia Mounted Militia constructing Fort Buffington in Cherokee County convinces him he can better serve the native people as a translator than a soldier. Defending Anna and her family from members of the Pony Club makes his quest even more personal. Little does he know the woman he’s falling in love with has been called on by her father’s people to help hide Cherokee gold.
Themes of The Maiden and the Mountie include finding one’s identity in God, friendship that spans social boundaries, the power of adopted family, and love that blooms amid the harsh winter of conflict. I hope you’ll join Anna and Gage in the tumultuous days of the Georgia Gold Rush and look for The Schoolmarm and the Miner coming later this year.
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book
Impressions, February 21
Blossoms
and Blessings, February 22
Books
Less Travelled, February 22
Debbie’s
Dusty Deliberations, February 23
Texas Book-aholic,
February 24
Devoted To Hope,
February 25
Holly’s Book
Corner, February 26
For Him and My
Family, February 26
Truth and Grace
Homeschool Academy, February 27
Betti Mace,
February 28
Jeanette’s Thoughts ,
March 1
lakesidelivingsite,
March 2
Cover
Lover Book Review, March 3
Books
You Can Feel Good About, March 4
Pause for
Tales, March 4
Locks, Hooks
and Books, March 5
Lyssa
Loves Books, March 6
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Denise is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/UE2FM/the-maiden-and-the-mountie-celebration-tour-giveaway
