In the spring of 1845, the King family of Carroll County, Missouri, loaded five covered wagons and set out for Oregon. Historical records tell us the route they chose.

In this richly detailed novel that originally appeared in 2005, Crew creates a riveting, fictional story from the bare facts of an extended family’s grueling journey across the Continental Divide. Illness and death claim some members, and grief and sorrow temper the survivors’ jubilation when they finally reach the promised Eden in Oregon.

Seventeen-year-old Lovisa narrates in a wholly believable voice that vividly evokes a young woman’s daily life on the trail. Readers (along with Lovisa’s family and friends) will recognize love brewing long before she does, and her marriage forms a warm coda to the exhausting journey.