Hope, Tears, and Dreams on the Way West: An Overland Trail Novel (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798218687861)

The hardest part of the journey isn't the trail.

Missouri 1849: Maggie is grief-stricken when, on the night of her ma's funeral, Pa stumbles home from the saloon with the announcement that slurs on his tongue. "There's gold in Calefornee!" Jacob, Maggie's twin brother, assures her that Pa won't remember it in the morning. Jacob is wrong. Maggie, Jacob, and Pa, each harboring a secret, load their belongings and their mutt into Pa's old farm cart and head to the jumping-off town of St. Joseph. Pa purchases two mules and supplies, likely with money stolen from their grandmother, and joins a wagon train headed west.

Pioneer life is hard, dangerous, and terrifying. Maggie encounters a wide assortment of characters with unique motivations that prompted them to uproot their lives and travel across the wild frontier in a covered wagon. Challenges bring out the best and worst in people, and the best and worst in themselves. Maggie and Jacob must rely on each other as they face the elements, Pa's temper, love, heartbreak, and shattered dreams. Then Maggie's world is upended when she discovers Jacob's secret. When tragedy strikes, can the siblings overcome their differences and work together to reach their destination, and find themselves in the process?