Donna Gruber Adair

An American Odyssey Donna Gruber Adair

Publisher Marketing: An American Odyssey is historical fiction that tells the story of our nation's turbulent early years through one family's journeys across the ever-expanding frontier. Americans have overcome many obstacles throughout our history, drawing on those qualities of hard work, faith, love, and family ties that made Ben and Ann Adair and their clan strong. From the frontiers of Ohio and Indiana westward to "Bleeding Kansas," they fought both men and nature to build a new nation. Although many members and generations of the extended Adair family live their stories in this novel, the primary focus is on one individual: Ben Adair. His story begins in late 1805 as he travels through the wilderness with his parents to their new home-Ohio-the Promised Land that will provide affordable land and a new life. A new life on the frontier does not come without a price: danger and tragedy are always present. When Ben marries Ann McMillen, they embark together on fifty years of joy and sorrow, always focused on their love and their faith. Their involvement in the anti-slavery movement begins when they decide to help a family of escaped slaves. In Indiana, these beliefs lead to tragedy. Later, the couple makes one more journey, this time onto the Kansas prairie where family members will find adventure and peril along the Santa Fe Trail and during the Colorado gold rush of 1859. The nation itself must cope with the question of slavery which will culminate in the horrors of Civil War. War's end brings triumph and sorrow seen through Adair eyes. Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2011 (EAN 9781463517434, Paperback)