I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A young woman who survived a deadly battle must navigate life in the years following the formation of a new nation and raise her siblings as her own children as they deal with an untamed land in author David Bowles’s “Adam’s Daughters”, the second book in the Westward Sagas series.
The Synopsis
The Westward Sagas tell the story of the Mitchell family’s 100-year odyssey west from Pennsylvania to Texas. In Adam’s Daughters: Book 2, Peggy Mitchell, a survivor of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, grows up in Jonesborough, Tennessee during the tumultuous first twenty years of the nation’s existence. Though haunted by memories of war, she matures into strong, independent young woman who is courted by Andrew Jackson and who has a freed slave as her best friend. Her younger brothers and sisters become her surrogate children and students. Together the children of Adam and Elizabeth take on renegade Indians, highwaymen, and the hardships of an untamed land.
The Review
This was yet another engaging and thoughtful historical fiction read in this expansive historical fiction series. The striking balance between the history of the story’s setting and the events happening around the cast of characters with the emotional core of this family’s struggles and journey overall made this a captivating read. The heavy tone the narrative strikes reflects the heaviness of the era, with every day a fight for survival and many people having to fight ignorance and mistrust of one another to avoid violence and conflict.
The standouts of this novel to me were the strength the author portrayed in protagonist Peggy with the rich amount of history and culture the narrative featured. As a longtime fan of history, I found it unique that the author would hone in on such a specific era of the nation’s first founding years, in the aftermath of the war and families pushing to find their place in this new country. The way in which Peggy stepped up into the role of both sister and mother to her siblings and found herself pushing against many of their young society’s ideas of what is acceptable or not, from her friendship with a freed slave who had become more like family to the misclassification of Native Americans as all being “savages”, showcased her strength and will of character, and a worthy heir to continue the Mitchell family in her grandmother’s and parents absence.
The Verdict
Thought-provoking, entertaining, and rich with history, author David Bowles’s “Adam’s Daughters” is a must-read historical fiction read from the post-American Revolution days and a great second entry into this historical fiction series. The detail of the landscape of this fledgling nation and the hardships of traveling and living off the land highlighted the strong nature of these characters and kept the reader invested until the book’s final pages. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
About the Author
David Bowles, a native of Austin, Texas, lives in San Antonio with his best friend and constant companion Lulubelle, a yellow Lab. He grew up listening to stories of his ancestors told by family members in the generation before him. The stories fascinated David so much that he grew up to become a tale-spinner, spinning tales through the written word in The Westward Sagas and through the spoken word speaking to groups of both adults and children. David started writing stories of his family to ensure that his children and grandchildren had accurate records of the family history. However, while the original versions, written in narrative textbook style, did maintain the records, they didn t maintain the interest of the readers. So he used his imagination and creativity to fill in the gaps of what might have happened when the details weren t available. He created dialogue and scenes to add true life drama to the story of the Mitchell Family from colonial days to the settlement of the West. He hopes these stories fascinate his readers as much as the stories of his ancestors have always fascinated him.
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