Along the Way Home

WESTERN:  "Along the Way Home" chronicles the physical and emotional journey that a young woman takes when her father decides to move their family from Virginia, across the country to Oregon Territory. 

Sophisticated yet sheltered, Katherine Davis has taken over much of her father’s business operations.  She has also been raising her very young brother Ben after her mother’s death, and neither of these have done much for her marital prospects in their community.  Her father decides to move the family West to start a new life, and she agrees, feeling a sense of future hope.  

Their guide is rough-edged, no-nonsense Jake Fitzgerald, and he rubs Kate the wrong way.  Seasoned to frontier life, Jake is well aware of the dangers ahead, although the Davises don’t take his warnings seriously enough, with tragic results.

This is a sprawling epic that showcases the struggle to leave the past behind and start anew.  Initially enemies, Katherine and Jake grow close and fall in love as they face the frontier together. A novel about the power of the human spirit in the face of tragedy and loss, readers will get their fill of adventure and survival drama on the frontier.    Jake is a flawed but wonderfully endearing hero with an indefatigable determination to fulfill his promises to Kate and her family.  Kate matures and fortifies over the course of this novel, but fundamentally, her spirit and integrity shines throughout this story.   "Along the Way Home" is a book for readers who love frontier novels with strong characters, nearly non-stop adventure, and emotional drama.

Danielle Hill