Like a River Glorious

In this second book in the projected trilogy beginning with Walk on Earth a Stranger (rev. 9/15), sixteen-year-old narrator Leah ("Lee") Westfall--gifted with the "witchy" talent for finding gold--and company stake their claim in California. But trouble's not far behind: Lee's murderous uncle Hiram has tracked her down and orders his henchmen to set the camp ablaze. To protect the settlement from further attacks, Lee--accompanied by best friend/love interest Jefferson and by Tom, one of the three bachelor "college men"--surrenders to Hiram, who is desperate to exploit her gold-finding abilities. Held captive at "Hiram's Gulch," but with innumerable freedoms and luxuries compared to the Chinese and Native American people enslaved by her uncle, Lee joins an uprising against him--and learns disturbing information about her own family. Carson's alternate Gold Rush-era setting is fierce and brutal: the uprising is very bloody, and many of the good guys perish. The socio-politics, too, are complicated. Jackson's mother was Cherokee (his father was a violently abusive white settler), and as glad as he is to be back with Lee in their soon-to-be-chartered town, he bristles at the idea of owning property: "It's not my land, Lee. And it wouldn't be right to just…take it." An informative author's note provides additional historical context. elissa gershowitz