Helen Bryan has written an epic novel spanning more than fifty years that begins with a mostly naive young heiress in England and terminates on the wild frontier in Virginia after her death. Despite its gripping lessons in hardship and survival, what makes this book stand out is the tenacity of its heroine Sophia in treating all the people in her life with fairness and love. It is ultimately conflict with the Native Americans that will sever the deepest of family ties, and an insistence on protecting the land given to his grandfather that sets the scenario for Book Two in this trilogy.
