Wings of the Dawn
A historical fiction about two cousins who travel west on the California trail in 1853
The Story:
Nicole Duval is a high-class lady with a past. She is octaroon – a woman of one eighth negro blood – in New Orleans of 1853. She gains her freedom from slavery, sells out, and heads west to escape her past and the threat of being re-enslaved. In Independence, Missouri she meets up with her cousin Magdalena. Together they outfit wagons, engage drivers, and start the two-thousand-mile journey to California, admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850. Both cousins try to pass for white. They are helped by a few enterprising gentlemen, fellow members of their wagon train, and Indians. They are hindered by storms, dust, desert, mountains, slave hunters, disease, and Indians. The people and the relationships they form along the way transform their lives, and they are propelled on their journey by the wings of the dawn.
Nicole Duval is a high-class lady with a past. She is octaroon – a woman of one eighth negro blood – in New Orleans of 1853. She gains her freedom from slavery, sells out, and heads west to escape her past and the threat of being re-enslaved. In Independence, Missouri she meets up with her cousin Magdalena. Together they outfit wagons, engage drivers, and start the two-thousand-mile journey to California, admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850. Both cousins try to pass for white. They are helped by a few enterprising gentlemen, fellow members of their wagon train, and Indians. They are hindered by storms, dust, desert, mountains, slave hunters, disease, and Indians. The people and the relationships they form along the way transform their lives, and they are propelled on their journey by the wings of the dawn.
What Readers are Saying about Wings of the Dawn
Like it? Those are two very inadequate words for the most delightful book I've read in a long time. I could feel the wind and sand and dirt and exhaustion that the people felt. Your descriptions are just so beautifully scripted. I just have one complaint, which is the same as for Wings of the Wind. It came to an end. I wanted to keep reading. Your style of writing, which is so true for all your books, really pulls the reader along. Some writers have us laboring through their style like your oxen in the sandy desert, but yours is more like skiing down a smooth hill. I know you did a lot of research, but your descriptions are so easy to picture in my mind that I'm wondering if you actually followed a lot of their route. I'm so grateful that you love to write.
Happy fan!
Virginia B., Red Bluff, California
Happy fan!
Virginia B., Red Bluff, California
I loved the book!!! I loved the character development of Nicole and her cousin, Magda, Juney and Reese. I really could picture them. I felt like I knew them. I think character development is one of your strengths. I appreciate your secondary characters as well: Trapper, Hattie and Ben, Rosie and Moses, Joe Washington, the single young men, poor Mary and her doomed infant. Luca and Rita Manco were perfect! They added spice to the story. Narration of a story is another strength in your writing. Like many other Americans, I've always been captivated by the Oregon Trail/Manifest Destiny story. You really made this history come to life for me. When they were traveling by foot toward the end over those mountain passes with the kids, my heart was in my mouth. Your command of the history of this era really came through--very impressive. This was my favorite of your books. I hope you write more historical fiction, but I am sure it is an incredible amount of work.
Rita P., Phila, PA
Rita P., Phila, PA
Wings of the Dawn Book Signing in Burns, OR on June 18 & 19 2021- Successful event for author & G15 art gallery
Marjorie
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with Oregon No. 1 Fan, Jenni
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with writer friend Nancy and Jenni
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