JOURNEY TO TRACER’S POINT--Release Date!

Today, July 17, 2008, Journey to Tracer’s Point is available for sale through this blog. Go to LINKS on the sidebar and click Treble Heart Books. It’s a great read.

The following is a review of my book:

When John Anderson visits his brother’s family in Virginia, everyone is elated to see him, everyone except his sister-in-law, Caroline. For her, his presence brings back unwelcome memories and a dark secret. John’s news of California gold is even more disturbing. His glowing reports of gold and the wealth it will bring convinces his brother, Alexander, to move his family to California to help John work his claim. Within a short time, Caroline’s comfortable, secure home and family farm they’ve worked for fourteen years are sold, their family belongings either sold, given away, or crammed into a wagon to be taken west. John Anderson, who has returned to California to his stake, leaves a wake of excitement in Alexander and son, nine year-old James, and dread and resentment with Caroline and daughter, Sarah, eleven.

John Anderson’s self-absorbed ways catch up to him when he stops in St. Louis, Missouri to visit a woman he once loved. Unfortunately, she died only a week earlier, leaving son, Micah, ten, to fend for himself. John learns that the mulatto Creole boy is his son. Suddenly a father, he steps up to his responsibility and takes the boy with him as he continues his journey to Tracer’s Point. On the way, however, John’s nare-do-well ways get him in trouble when a poker game back-fires sending him, his son, and an Indian boy running for their lives.

Ramsey does an excellent job describing the grueling hardships of traveling by wagon--the harrowing river crossings, the steep terrain, the unceasing discomforts of rain, mud, heat and dust. The Anderson family struggles through it all, sharing burdens with others once they join a wagon train. Occasional towns along the way offer respite, but also hold the threat of the dreaded cholera.

When tragedy strikes the Anderson family, not once, twice, but three times, the story takes a drastic turn. In the meantime, John Anderson finds himself in serious trouble at his claim at Tracer’s Point.

Gwyn Ramsey weaves a convincing tale of human strengths and frailties as well as gritty descriptions of violence and cruelty. Readers can relate to the antics of the children and the exasperation and impatience of their parents. Her descriptions of sexual desires and intimacy are realistically balanced. Ramsey speaks with knowledge of the territories in which the story takes place. Journey to Tracer’s Point is a fast-paced historical novel that touches the heart and emotion of the gold-rush era.

Reviewed by Mary E. Trimble, author of Rosemount and McClellan’s Bluff, Atlantic Bridge