Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati

The work of first-time author, Sara Donati, so impressed bestselling author Diana Gabaldon that she paid Donati the ultimate tribute in allowing her to borrow two of her most beloved characters Jamie and Claire from her bestselling 'Voyager' series. The trade paperback of this title released last year was an instant bestseller in New Zealand. INTO THE WILDERNESS is the story of Elizabeth Middleton, an independent, strong-willed English woman who travels to America in 1792 to set up a school in 'Paradise', a primitive settlement on the edges of a wilderness the white settlers share grudgingly with the Mohawk Wolf clan. There she finds her father has plans to marry her off to a wealthy settler and solve his financial problems into the bargain. But Elizabeth is just as determined to realise her dream in the hostile new land and finds an unlikely supporter in Nathaniel Bonner, a rugged Scottish trapper who is also an honorary member of the Mohawk Wolf clan. Interweaving the fate of the Mohawk nation with these two outsiders torn between different worlds, INTO THE WILDERNESS is an epic love story. My favorite kind of book is the sort that you live in, rather than read...this is one of those rare stories that lets you breathe the air of another time and leave your footprints on the snow of a wild, strange place. n DIANA GABALDON n nReviews n nMuch touted by its publicist, this first novel features nEnglishwoman Elizabeth Middleton, who hardly expects to fall for an nAmerican frontiersman when she travels to the New World. n nEpic in ambition, heaving-bosomed and lavish with pioneer life, nDonati's debut inevitably invites comparison to the Revolutionary nWar-era romances of Diana Gabaldon. Claire Fraser, Gabaldon's ntime-traveling physician heroine, even makes a cameo appearance as na battlefield surgeon. Alas, Donati offers less wit and more cant nthan her celebrated precursor in a hefty volume that is politically ncorrect to a fare-thee-well, suggesting that the author hoped nsingle-handedly to reverse all race and gender bias. When Elizabeth nMiddleton, a proud spinster of 29, arrives in upstate Paradise, nN.Y., after a sheltered life in England with her titled aunt, she nmeans to live with her father, Alfred, a judge, and her wastrel nbrother, Julian, and teach school. Her father has a scheme, nhowever. She is to marry Dr. Richard Todd and fulfill both men's nambitions for property. One look at rugged Nathaniel Bonner, a nScotsman raised by Mohawks (they call him Between-Two-Lives), and nLizzie scuttles her feminist disdain for marriage and her father's ncalculations. Nathaniel wants Judge Middleton's land, too, for his nadoptive people'but, unlike Todd, he also wants Lizzie for herself. nAt first they are an enchanting couple, shooting at bad guys and nmaking athletic love in unlikely woodsy settings. Then the charm nfalters as their adventures are padded with details that embroider nwithout embellishing. Worse, the characters are color-by-numbers ncartoons. Nathaniel is the only thoroughly admirable white male in nthe huge cast'upbringing having triumphed over blood'and no person nof color has flaws. The many subplots are skillfully interwoven, nand the author's sheer stamina commands respect; but the novel is ncomplicated, not complex, overstuffed with familiar, featherweight nthemes. (Aug.) FYI: This novel is Donati's debut under her own nname. Homestead, a book of short stories written under the npseudonym Rosina Lippi Green, was published by Delphinium. n nEpic in ambition, heaving-bosomed and lavish with pioneer life, nDonati's debut inevitably invites comparison to the Revolutionary nWar-era romances of Diana Gabaldon. Claire Fraser, Gabaldon's ntime-traveling physician heroine, even makes a cameo appearance as na battlefield surgeon. Alas, Donati offers less wit and more cant nthan her celebrated precursor in a hefty volume that is politically ncorrect to a fare-thee-well, suggesting that the author hoped nsingle-handedly to reverse all race and gender bias. When Elizabeth nMiddleton, a proud spinster of 29, arrives in upstate Paradise, nN.Y., after a sheltered life in England with her titled aunt, she nmeans to live with her father, Alfred, a judge, and her wastrel nbrother, Julian, and teach school. Her father has a scheme, nhowever. She is to marry Dr. Richard Todd and fulfill both men's nambitions for property. One look at rugged Nathaniel Bonner, a nScotsman raised by Mohawks (they call him Between-Two-Lives), and nLizzie scuttles her feminist disdain for marriage and her father's ncalculations. Nathaniel wants Judge Middleton's land, too, for his nadoptive people'but, unlike Todd, he also wants Lizzie for herself. nAt first they are an enchanting couple, shooting at bad guys and nmaking athletic love in unlikely woodsy settings. Then the charm nfalters as their adventures are padded with details that embroider nwithout embellishing. Worse, the characters are color-by-numbers ncartoons. Nathaniel is the only thoroughly admirable white male in nthe huge cast'upbringing having triumphed over blood'and no person nof color has flaws. The many subplots are skillfully interwoven, nand the author's sheer stamina commands respect; but the novel is ncomplicated, not complex, overstuffed with familiar, featherweight nthemes. (Aug.) FYI: This novel is Donati's debut under her own nname. Homestead, a book of short stories written under the npseudonym Rosina Lippi Green, was published by Delphinium. n nMuch touted by its publicist, this first novel features nEnglishwoman Elizabeth Middleton, who hardly expects to fall for an nAmerican frontiersman when she travels to the New World. n nOne of those rare stories that let you breathe the air of another ntime, and leave your footprints on the snow of a wild, strange nplace.--Diana GabaldonA powerful adventure story.--PeopleEach ntime you open a book, you hope to discover a story that will make nyour spirit of adventure and romance sing. This book delivers on nthat promise.--Amanda QuickEpic in scope, emotionally nintense.--BookPageA beautiful tale of both romance and nsurvival...Here is the beauty as well as the savagery of the nwilderness and, at the core of it all, the compelling story of the nlove of a man and a woman, both for the untamed land and for one nanother.--llan W. EckertThe romance of the year when it comes to ntranscending genre boundaries and appealing to readers who love nlush historical epics or thrilling backwoods nadventures.--Booklist