Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon

 

Summary (from the publisher): In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.

The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.

But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.

When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually…make peace with who they are.

Review: It's 1853 and twenty-year-old Naomi May, recently widowed, is setting out west with her family for a new start on the plains. On the trail, she makes an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man who is helping lead their party west. But the Oregon Trail is a dangerous one and even as John and Naomi are drawn together, tragedy strikes their train, decimating Naomi's family and separating her from John. 

This was a beautiful and haunting story of the Oregon Trail that captured the loss and deaths that many faced in their attempts to start anew out west in the mid 1800s. I listened to the audio version of this book and loved the back and forth in perspective between Naomi and John, who were narrated by different readers in the audio version. While both young, each character had a depth to them born out of hardship and struggle. Naomi is the oldest of a large family and as the only daughter is expected to pitch in and serve as a mother figure to her many younger siblings. And as a young woman who has already been widowed after a brief loss, her place in the world is uncertain. Likewise, John was raised by his white father and stepmother, but has always felt somewhat out of place due to his Pawnee mother. He straddles two worlds without fully belonging in either. 

I do question whether Naomi's parents would truly have been supportive of her marriage to a half-Pawnee man given the time period and the way he would have been viewed as racially other at the time. But having read several non-fiction books about the Oregon Trail during this time period, I was otherwise impressed with how realistic Harmon's depiction of that time was. And I loved the love story she created between John and Naomi. 

This would be ideal for fans of the 1883 television show, since there are many eerie similarities in the plotline. 

Stars: 3.5