On a humid day in June 1806, seventeen-year-old Susanna Quiner watches from behind a maple tree as a band of Potawatomi Indians kidnaps her four older sisters from their cabin. With both her parents dead from Swamp Fever and the other settlers out in their fields, Susanna rashly decides to pursue them herself. What follows is a young woman’s quest to find her sisters, and the parallel story of her sisters’ new lives.
Over the course of one summer, the lives of all five women are transformed as they encounter starvation, slavery, betrayal, and love. Fast-paced and richly detailed, this is a riveting story about a long-gone wilderness and the rugged perseverance of those who lived there.