Leaving Independence by Leanne W. Smith

Abigail Baldwyn might not be a widow after all.…

Ever since she received word that her husband, Robert, was killed in the Civil War, Abigail has struggled to keep her Tennessee home and family together. Then a letter arrives claiming that Robert isn’t dead, yet he has no plans to return. Desperate for answers, Abigail travels to Independence, Missouri, where she joins a westbound wagon train to find him.

Leading a company along the Oregon Trail isn’t part of Hoke Mathews’s plans. But then the former cavalry scout gets a glimpse of Abigail—so elegant compared to the rest of their hardscrabble wagon community, yet spirited and resilient. Through every peril they encounter—snakebites, Indian raids, fevers, dangerous grudges—his bond with Abigail grows.

Abigail knew this journey would test her courage. Now it’s testing her marriage vows and her heart, daring her to claim a future on her own terms in a land rich with promise.

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About The Author

Leanne W. Smith is on the faculty of Lipscomb University’s College of Business and teach courses in business communication and mentorship.

In business communication we specifically study Job Search Skills, Presentation, People Skills and Business Writing. So that’s what most of my static pages address, and that’s what I often blog about in additional to creative writing.
This blog is a great resource in my classes, but it’s also meant to be a gift to anyone looking for career (or life) inspiration and direction.

Website 

My Review

A book that reads like I’m watching a movie, and like a movie when you reach the end you often want to go on with their lives.
The book opens with meeting Abigail Baldwyn, she is out of money and about to lose her home, she has been a widow after her husband was killed in the Civil War, but now the bank won’t help and there is doubt her husband is dead? How could that be, and then she finds out where he is, contacts him out West and decides she has no choice but to take her four children and find him.
Thus the Baldwyn family begins the journey West in a wagon train leaving Independence MO, with the hopes of being reunited with their husband and father. We are about to meet people who change the course of their lives, and end up with new family.
One of the members Hoke Mathew’s becomes a leader of their part of the wagon train, and we learn what kind of a man he is. You are about to endure quite an adventure, to include people who are not as they appear, Indian attacks, illness, and forging tight bonds.
I really enjoyed this read, and as I said I didn’t want it to end!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Waterfall Press, and was not required to give a positive review.