Sarah’s Choice by Pegg Thomas is an historical romance set in Colonial America. It’s hard to remember that western Pennsylvania was once the frontier. This was a time of European settlement in the traditional lands of Native Americans, and the novel explores the violent conflict between the two groups, With a strong faith message, the book will give you much to think about.
Sarah Feight has her life planned with a loving husband, a promising new settlement, and big dreams to shape the future of trade on Pennsylvania’s frontier. An Indian attack at dawn changes everything.
When he pulls his freight wagons into Fort Pitt, Leith McCully never dreams he’ll be conscripted into the militia and ordered to defend the fort. Worried about trader friends on his delivery route, he rides to their settlement and returns with Sarah, the only survivor.
Fort Pitt is crowded to twice its capacity with the settlers who have taken refuge there and surrounded by the rising smoke of burned-out settlements. Tempers flare, disease breaks out, and the constant fear of the next attack has everyone on edge.
Cully keeps an eye on Sarah because he feels responsible for her. And, though he doesn’t admit as much, she tugs at his heart. Sarah sees Cully as the last link to her past. A friend of her husband’s family. She’s going to need someone she can trust, and she trusts Cully. Her rescuer.
Are trust and admiration enough to help them survive the siege and its devastating consequences? Is there any hope for a future beyond?
Pegg Thomas lives on a hobby farm in Northern Lower Michigan with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. Besides writing, she enjoys a variety of crafts including spinning sheep’s wool into yarn and knitting. Together, she and Michael enjoy camping, fishing, boat-nerding (you have to be a Great Lakes person to know about that), and thoroughbred horse racing.
A life-long history geek, it’s no surprise that historical fiction is her genre. Colonial America and the Civil War era are favorite time periods to both read and write. Her favorite type of book centers on a great fiction story surrounded by factual historical events.
My Impressions:
It has been a while since I read a novel set in Colonial America. While many feature the rise of the Revolution, Sarah’s Choice by Pegg Thomas explores the time when European settlers and Native American’s clashed in what is commonly called the French And Indian War. I thought this novel was an interesting look at the desire for white settlers to make a home in the expanding frontier, while Native Americans wanted to preserve their lands and way of life. It didn’t help that another European adversary, the French, was agitating the conflict. It’s a time that modern readers may be uncomfortable with, but as it is part of how our nation was formed, it shouldn’t be forgotten. Sarah’s Choice is mostly from the viewpoint of the settlers. An attack leaves Sarah all alone, hurt, and vulnerable. She shelters in Fort Pitt as a siege takes place. The title points out that she has a choice to make, many in fact. She must choose whether to live, whether to love again, and whether to forgive. Her struggle is very natural given what she endures. She is supported by people of faith whose influence helps her to heal. I found the descriptions of life in a fort during a siege very interesting. Those who were within the fort’s walls had to deal with disease, lack of food and water, and the fear of daily attacks. There is a limited viewpoint from the other side, which I wish had been a bit more balanced. The novel is also a romance, and Sarah is put in a definitely unromantic position — her survival hinges on a marriage of convenience. I would not have wanted to make that choice!
If you are a fan of historical fiction set in the early days of America’s formation, then check out Sarah’s Choice. It raises a lot of questions and opportunities for goolging. 😉
Edit: for more points of view (French And Native American), check out books 2&3. 😀
Recommended.
Audience: adults.
(I purchased Sarah’s Choice from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Thank you for reading Sarah’s Choice. This is book one of the Forts of Refuge series. Books two and three incorporate the viewpoints of both the French and Native Americans. That was too much to cram into a single novel and do it justice.
Good to know! Thanks!