Emma Payne Erskine

The Mountain Girl Annotated Emma Payne Erskine

David Thryng is the third son of a British peer of the realm. Unwilling to marry into money without love, and unwilling to spill blood on the battlefield, he decides to become a doctor. David travels to Canada, where he studies under Doctor Hoyle. When David becomes ill, Hoyle sends him to recuperate at his cabin, perched high on a promontory in the mountains of North Carolina. When the story begins, David's train is arriving at the tiny mountain crossing. David disembarks just in time to rescue a young Hoyle, named after the erstwhile doctor, David's mentor. Hoyle and his beautiful but quiet sister Cass take David home to mother, because the night has fallen, with fresh snow. At their cabin, David tends mother's broken hip.