Written as a sequel to James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, the premise of the story and the many positive reviews on Amazon left me expecting great things from this book. However, despite relatively well-rounded characters and an engaging main storyline, the novel also suffered from far too many characters and sub plot lines. There’s a reason it took the author 912 pages to draw everything to its conclusion.

At the center of it all is Elizabeth Middleton, a 29-year-old spinster school teacher who leaves a comfortable life in England to join her father in the New World. The year is 1792 and her father is a judge in upstate New York who has promised to build her a school where she can teach the local children. Yet as it turns out, Judge Middleton only promised Elizabeth a schoolhouse in order to get her to join him in New York, and what he really wants is to marry her to a wealthy doctor - thereby solving his financial troubles. Elizabeth refuses to comply and ends up falling in love with a frontiersman by the name of Nathaniel Bonner instead. As the son of Daniel “Hawkeye” Bonner (the hero of The Last of the Mohicans), Nathaniel has strong ties to the Mahican people and is the last person Judge Middleton wants his daughter associating with. But not surprisingly Elizabeth can’t help falling for Nathaniel’s cool confidence and masculine sex appeal. As far as fictional, somewhat cliched relationships go it is a match made in heaven.

I’ll admit that I was interested in Elizabeth and Nathaniel’s relationship at first. Yes it was rehashing the old “beautiful, sheltered and sexually naive woman who has never wanted to get married meets down-to-earth, ruggedly handsome man who makes her hot” story, but sometimes, I can dig that. After the first 300 pages though, all the numerous digressions - about a picnic where the townsfolk kill too many ducks, for instance - became tiresome. I was impressed by the authors ability to weave her knowledge about Mahican culture and 1700’s North America into a coherent story, and likewise enjoyed her ability to bring the main characters to life, but despite these elements I lost interest by the time page 912 came around. I considered putting the book down on several occasions but couldn’t bring myself to do it after reading so much of the story. Might as well find out what happens right?