“Where the Lost Wander” by Amy Harmon

Title: Where the Lost Wander
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Year: 2020
Genre(s): historical fiction, romance
Part of a Series: No
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club selection

Summary: Recently widowed, Naomi decides to head west on the Oregon Trail with her family and some friends. At the starting point, she meets John Lowry, who works with his father raising and selling mules to the pioneers getting ready to cross the American frontier. He and Naomi feel pulled toward each other and he decides to join their wagon party to start a new life out west as well. But the Oregon Trail is not kind to the pioneers who traverse it and John Lowry must also contend with the fact that he was born to a white father and a Pawnee mother, a man who has a foot in both worlds but doesn’t feel at home in either. Will he and Naomi survive the trials and challenges of the Oregon Trail? And if so, will they be able to find a life together? Or will life on the Oregon Trail prove too much?

Review: I’ll admit I was bit wary about reading this book even though I love Harmon as a writer. But she does not shy away from the darker parts of history and the tragedies that are part of them. And in this Year Clearly Not of Our Lord 2020, the last thing I felt I needed was darkness and tragedy.

2020 has been dark and tragic enough.

But I read it and while there were some difficult parts to get through, I enjoyed the novel for the most part. But if you’re tired of sickness and death right now, I wouldn’t advise reading this book just yet. Harmon does not gloss over how difficult the journey to Oregon was. We all played the Oregon Trail. We all know what happens – and then throw in a few more things that the games couldn’t because they were aimed at children.

Now, I will also add that Harmon doesn’t do much by gore or making certain things overly descriptive. In this case, I think it’s more the quantity of tragedy and death that pushes it into “be warned” territory. That and her ability to make you feel what the characters are feeling – which is a high compliment to her skills as a storyteller. It just may be too much to deal with our own feelings right now and it’s understandable as readers we need to figure out which emotions we want to experience during this time.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom! If it was, I wouldn’t have given it such a high rating. No, Harmon manages to thread a lot of hope into her work, just like she did in the other books I read by her.

In fact, let’s highlight some of the good:

The book switches between John’s and Naomi’s POV, allowing us to get glimpses into their heads as their relationship unfolds. Usually switching narrators annoys me but I liked it in this case. It was nice to get to know both of them intimately and watch their journey – John grows from a person who doesn’t know where he fits in to finding his home and family while Naomi struggles to define her own family, finding it in the end – even though it comes through tragedy. Both are fascinating, though I admit that I actually preferred John over Naomi. Not that he was better or she was less interesting – it was just my own personal preference.

I did love the romance that grew between them – John worried about them being accepted and Naomi deciding to go after what she wanted no matter what happened. They provided a good balance for each other and ended up being just what the other needed, especially in the dark days that laid ahead for both of them. I found myself really rooting for them and their romance pulled me in, making me believe all would be well in the end.

I also loved how Harmon built the relationships between Naomi and her family as well as John and her family. Especially his bond with her brothers and how they came to respect him, seeing him as one of the family even before Naomi acted on her feelings for him. It was very sweet to read.

Bottom line: A good read if you loved the Oregon Trail as a child but only if you can handle a darker tone during these dark times.

Sex: Some but nothing too descriptive. There is a rape scene but nothing graphic.

Moonlight Musing

Do you find dark material in books cathartic or overwhelming?