Dawn Miller's marvelous debut novel is a grand adventure — and a glorious love story — experienced with all the passion and yearning of a heroine you'll never forget: eighteen-year-old Callie Wade, whose hopeful heart is as rich with promise as the frontier, which calls her family from their Missouri farm to a new life out West. The Journal Of Callie Wade invites us into a world long vanished, brought to life once more in the pages of a young pioneer woman's diary.
April 12, 1859: "What you can't duck, you best welcome." That's what Mama used to always say, anyway....Even though it was in me to fight going West, I couldn't; there's a light in Pa's eyes, a kind of hope that our Rose will find health and I see it in Jack's eyes, too. As wild and reckless as my brother can be, I know he dreams of better. When I look into Quinn's eyes I feel my own dreams, too...and the love. But everything is so unsure on the trail. Sitting here, staring at the scattered campfires of the train, I can almost hear the prayers to make it through another dust-choked mile, over another river, another birth...another death. Maybe Pa is right, maybe we'll all have a new chance at life in the West. But at what price?
From bitter hardships to moments of shining joy, from unexpected friendships to Callie's blossoming love for Irishman Quinn McGregor, The Journal Of Callie Wade is a chronicle of courage and faith, an inspiring tale of hope and endurance to treasure for years to come.