Title: Where the
Trail Ends
Author: Melanie Dobson
Pages: 333
Year: 2012
Publisher: Summerside Press
Melanie
Dobson has created a wonderfully entertaining story set on the Oregon Trail in
1842. The words she uses to describe the
setting and the characters’ emotions bring them to life. It is as if you are right there seeing what
they see and feeling what they feel.
This book is part of a series entitled American Tapestries. Other authors are also contributing to this
series, each book having a different setting and time period.
Samantha
Waldron has literally walked thousands of miles. She started her journey west from Ohio with
her father and young brother, Micah. Her
mother died six months ago when her journey begins. Her family travels to Missouri to buy all
their supplies and start their trip from there.
She can’t wait to reach the end of their journey in the Willamette, an
area in the Oregon Territory that is said to be fertile and teeming with
game. Her father has left behind his life
as a lawyer and plans to raise herds of animals and farm in their new
home. He is hoping Samantha will marry
the young man who is second in charge of their wagon train when they reach
their destination. Samantha isn’t sure
she can trust Jack with her heart. The
wagon train faces many struggles such as Indian encounters, no water, bad
water, disease, no grazing grassland for the oxen that pull their wagons,
internal division. At one point, the
wagon train splits due to a vote of no confidence in their leader. They must get through the Blue Mountains
before winter sets in or they won’t survive.
They are forced to leave many of their belongings behind and constantly
are on the watch for wild animals. They
are so close to the end of their agonizing journey when the unthinkable
happens…another death. How could God
allow this now?
Lord
Alexander Clarke works for the Hudson Trading Company with his uncle being head
of the company. Alex has been sent to
the Oregon Territory to oversee portions of the fur trade and learn the
business from the ground up. He has been
engaged to an English lady back in London for five years. The longer he stays in Oregon, the more he
wants to stay permanently. He knows
Judith will not want to live in the wilderness, so he resigns himself to the
marriage, returning to London, and taking a position as the head of his uncle’s
company. Then, he meets Samantha by
rescuing her and Micah from drowning. He
begins to spend more and more time with her and begins to have deep feelings to
her, but he is promised to another. He
can’t break his word. Samantha sees Alex
as a hero and soon loses her heart to him, but knows he can’t marry her because
of his prior commitment. After five
years, Alex sees Judith for the first time as she gets of the ship arriving
from England. He doesn’t love her and
she doesn’t love him, but she likes his money and position. How can God work this out?
I
couldn’t put this book down, finishing it in one day! I got so involved with the characters and what
was going to happen next. The overriding
theme that the two main characters face is that they must rely on God to
provide for their needs and He will always be faithful in His care of His
children. Great job Melanie!
My
rating is 4.5 stars.
Note: I received a
complimentary copy for an honest review of this book. The opinions shared in this review are solely
my responsibility. Other reviews can be
read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/
. Also follow me on Twitter
@lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457
