1844. The Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land. When a heavy snowstorm hits in October, the party separates in three directions. Now young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, widowed Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa each risks losing those they loved....

Told in riveting, keenly observed poetry, a moving first person narrative as experienced by a young survivor of the tragic Donner Party of 1846.

Boone's Lick is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry's triumphant return to the kind of story that made him famous -- an enthralling tale of the nineteenth-century West. McMurtry brings his unique blend of historical fact and sheer storytelling genius to the Cecil family's arduous journey from Boone's Lick, Missouri, to Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. Fifteen-year-old Shay describes the journey that begins when his Ma, Mary Margaret, decides...

Eric's angelic looks mask a self-serving, monstrous soul. He forces his wife Emma to accompany him on an overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Luke would help her escape a twisted path of lies, theft, and murder... but only God can show them the way out...

In the turbulent mid-1800s, Charity Morgan is a beautiful, businesslike young woman whose devout religious community is losing its Pennsylvania homestead to the economic recession. To survive and stay together, she and the other members make plans to form a wagon train to Oregon, where free land is plentiful. There's just one catch. No wagon master is better equipped to lead them safely west than inmate Casey Tremayne and his ragtag band of felons....

Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere. That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos....

"From the bestselling author of Prayers for Sale, an inspiring celebration of sisterhood on the perilous Overland Trail "If you are an adventuresome young woman of high moral character and fine health, are you willing to travel to California in search of a good husband?" It's February, 1852, and all around Chicago, Maggie sees the postings soliciting "eligible women" to travel to the gold mines of Goosetown. A young seamstress with a small daughter...