260 pages
Independently Published
September 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1794240117
Part of the Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection One, Trail to Clear Creek is a delightful story with lots of twists and turns. Author Kit Morgan knows how to pack a lot into a novella-length book. The female protagonist and her sons are English, and the author did a good job of capturing the cadence and slang of the British dialect. Honoria has several challenges – to follow her dead husband’s dream, survive on a wagon train journey, and figure out how to live in the American West. The other characters who made up the community within the train were unique, some likable, some not so much! I loved the male protagonist, Jefferson Cooke. An integrity-filled, gentle soul, he is just what Honoria needs. I liked how he was with her boys. Even though he wasn’t their father, he expected respect and gave them a firm but fair hand, leading by example.
I’m a strong-willed individual, and I moved several times while growing up because of my dad’s job. In fact, I attended three high schools, and you haven’t lived until you’ve tried to fit in with teenage girls. But the experiences helped shape my character.
Having said all that, I cannot imagine what it would be like to pare down my belongings to the bare essentials, pack enough food for weeks, and travel thousands of miles in a covered wagon. I’ve ridden in wagons during farm festivals and between the hard bench and constant swaying, the allure dried up pretty quickly. Without bringing the story down, the author conveyed the tedium and danger of being part of a wagon train as well as the unpreparedness of Honoria for which the West was like a foreign land.
I also like how the author addressed blending Honoria’s and Jefferson’s families. In the best of circumstances, that would be difficult. Add a cross-country journey, grief of lost spouses, and the kids dealing with the loss of parents, and the situation would be even more challenging. The two sets of children are very different from each other and dislike each other immediately. Without the maturity to deal with what they are feeling, squabbles start, then escalate to more.
Likewise, Honoria and Jefferson must learn to blend their relationship. On the trail! Having both been widowed, yet having very different experiences, they bring baggage to the table, lots of baggage. Again, Ms. Morgan has done a great job of creating realistic scenes and situations the pair must deal with as time passes. My heart went out to the couple.
Messages of hope, faith, forgiveness, and God’s sovereignty are effectively woven throughout the story, leaving the reader with food for thought. A highly enjoyable read.
Novel PASTimes 