About the Book
Book: The Maiden and the Mountie
Author: Denise Farnsworth writing as Denise Weimer
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
A marriage of necessity. A secret buried deep. In Georgia’s gold country, love may be the most dangerous treasure of all.
Gage Edmonds plans to use his engineering degree to blaze new roads
in the Southern frontier—but first, he must follow in the footsteps of
his war hero father and prove he’s worthy of their family name. His
assignment to the Georgia Mounted Militia puts him between gold-hungry
settlers and Cherokees soon to be forced from their homes. The local
miller’s captivating daughter, Anna Walker, makes him question
everything he thought he wanted. Grieved at the treatment of the
peaceful Cherokees, Gage chooses not to re-enlist but agrees to work as a
translator, even if it might cost him his chance at redemption.
Daughter of a European mother and Cherokee father, Anna has seen the
way new settlers have pushed her father’s people out of their homes. She
vowed never to fall for a white man. Least of all, a soldier. Yet when
Sergeant Edwards endangers himself to keep the peace during a clash at
her father’s gristmill, she admits there’s something honorable about
him. Over Anna’s protests, her father seeks to secure her future in
Gage’s hands.
On the eve of eviction, members of a local village hide their gold,
trusting Anna with its safekeeping until they can return. When dangerous
men discover the secret, she’s forced to rely on Gage for protection.
But just as she begins to trust him, a secret her father has kept
threatens to tear them apart. Can Anna trust this soldier with the
truth—and her heart?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
North Georgia native Denise Farnsworth,
formerly Denise Weimer, has authored over twenty traditionally
published novels and a number of novellas—historical and contemporary
romance, romantic suspense, and time slip. As a freelance editor and
Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books, she’s helped
other authors reach their publishing dreams. A wife and mother of two
young adult daughters, Denise always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and
old houses.
More from Denise
The vanished pieces of our history have always intrigued me as an
author. Houses, towns, lives that were once so vital but now of which
there is no trace left except in books and oral accounts. For The Maiden and the Mountie,
tales about two vanished things caught my attention when I lived near
Cumming, Georgia—a Cherokee removal fort and Cherokee gold. Local
historians have long debated the location of Fort Buffington and legends
of Cherokee gold hidden in tunnels with secret vaults and deadfalls…or
buried in clay pots, some of which were reported to have been found.
The second book of my Twenty-Niners of the Georgia Gold Rush series
is set during the fall and winter of 1837. Gold had been found in the
late 1820s on Cherokee land, land which was then divvied up in a state
lottery. Lottery winners prepared to move onto farming lots of a hundred
and sixty acres or mining lots of forty acres. Much of that property
already had “improvements”—homes, outbuildings, and businesses. The
majority of the Cherokee people had “Americanized,” adopting the
clothing, religion, language, and farming and business methods of their
white neighbors. That did not stop property- and gold-hungry settlers
from taking Native American land.
Some Cherokees moved to Oklahoma Territory before the May 1838
deadline set by the national government. Others lingered until the last,
fed by rumors and hopes that the legal efforts of their leaders in
Washington would succeed. Many of them endured harassment by Pony Club
members. Eventually, the remaining Cherokees were rounded up by mounted
militia, forced into hastily constructed removal forts, and escorted on
the tragic winter march that became known as the Trail of Tears.
No doubt about it—this is grave subject matter. But wouldn’t writing a
trilogy about the Georgia Gold Rush without including an account of the
Cherokee Removal be an even graver disservice to the actual history and
the proud people who endured it?
The Maiden and the Mountie focuses on the mixed-blood
Cherokee family of the heroine, Anna Walker, whose father operates a
gristmill—another setting unique to fiction but so vital to
nineteenth-century communities. For this angle of the story, I was able
to draw on my brief stint as a county employee when I spent some time as
a docent at Freeman’s Mill in Gwinnett County. The hero, Gage Edmonds,
yearns to live up to his father’s military record and at the same time
defend the heritage of his Cherokee grandmother-by-marriage. The
conflict he rides into as a member of the Georgia Mounted Militia
constructing Fort Buffington in Cherokee County convinces him he can
better serve the native people as a translator than a soldier. Defending
Anna and her family from members of the Pony Club makes his quest even
more personal. Little does he know the woman he’s falling in love with
has been called on by her father’s people to help hide Cherokee gold.
Themes of The Maiden and the Mountie include finding one’s
identity in God, friendship that spans social boundaries, the power of
adopted family, and love that blooms amid the harsh winter of conflict. I
hope you’ll join Anna and Gage in the tumultuous days of the Georgia
Gold Rush and look for The Schoolmarm and the Miner coming later this year.
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, February 21
Blossoms and Blessings, February 22
Books Less Travelled, February 22
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, February 23
Texas Book-aholic, February 24
Devoted To Hope, February 25
Holly’s Book Corner, February 26
For Him and My Family, February 26
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 27
Betti Mace, February 28
Jeanette’s Thoughts , March 1
lakesidelivingsite, March 2
Cover Lover Book Review, March 3
Books You Can Feel Good About, March 4
Pause for Tales, March 4
Locks, Hooks and Books, March 5
Lyssa Loves Books, March 6
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Denise is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/UE2FM/the-maiden-and-the-mountie-celebration-tour-giveaway
A
determined orphan caretaker and a wealthy mine owner—brought together
by circumstance, tested by tragedy, and transformed by love.
Best-selling, award-winning author of The Debutante’s Code, first in the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery Series, Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum.
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