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Keowee Valley
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Keowee Valley
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Keowee Valley
Ebook578 pages9 hours

Keowee Valley

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

"A glorious debut from a gifted author." - Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Big Stone Gap and The Shoemaker's Wife

On the edge of the wilderness, her adventure began.
"Keowee Valley is a terrific first novel by Katherine Scott Crawford--a name that should be remembered. She has a lovely prose style, a great sense of both humor and history, and she tells about a time in South Carolina that I never even imagined." --Pat Conroy, bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and South of Broad.
She journeyed into the wilderness to find a kidnapped relative. She stayed to build a new life filled with adventure, danger, and passion.
Spring, 1768. The Southern frontier is a treacherous wilderness inhabited by the powerful Cherokee people. In Charlestown, South Carolina, twenty-five-year-old Quincy MacFadden receives news from beyond the grave: her cousin, a man she'd believed long dead, is alive--held captive by the Shawnee Indians. Unmarried, bookish, and plagued by visions of the future, Quinn is a woman out of place . . . and this is the opportunity for which she's been longing.
Determined to save two lives, her cousin's and her own, Quinn travels the rugged Cherokee Path into the South Carolina Blue Ridge. But in order to rescue her cousin, Quinn must trust an enigmatic half-Cherokee tracker whose loyalties may lie elsewhere. As translator to the British army, Jack Wolf walks a perilous line between a King he hates and a homeland he loves.
When Jack is ordered to negotiate for Indian loyalty in the Revolution to come, the pair must decide: obey the Crown, or commit treason . . .

Katherine Scott Crawford was born and raised in the blue hills of the South Carolina Upcountry, the history and setting of which inspired Keowee Valley. Winner of a North Carolina Arts Award, she is a former newspaper reporter and outdoor educator, a college English teacher, and an avid hiker. She lives with her family in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she tries to resist the siren call of her passport as she works on her next novel. Visit her at: www.katherinescottcrawford.com.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBelleBooks
Release dateSep 27, 2012
ISBN9781611941920
Unavailable
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Reviews for Keowee Valley

Rating: 4.0714285142857145 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Author: Katherine ScottPublished by: Bell Bridge BooksAge Recommended: Adult Reviewed By: Arlena DeanBook Blog For: GMTARating: 5Review:"Keowee Valley" by Katherine Scott wonderful, romantic, historical fiction read that turned out to be a amazing good read. This author really knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat with this read and gave you the feeling that you were right there in this read as she has you all caught up dreaming her(Quinn's)way to her ambitions. The descriptions of this South Carolina Blue Ridge area seem to come to life being so beautifully described. The plot of this story was very interesting how this author was able to bring it all together told in first person. Many times I thought this story was going one way then before I knew what was happening it had changed which made this so intriguing. Basically this story was of Quincy(Quinn) MacFadden who"confessing to having been plagued with strange visions(dreams), of which she is positive are omens" and with this Quincy feels that this will help her find her missing cousin, Owen who she had earlier thought had been killed by the 'Shawnee.' Owen has been kidnapped by Indians. So, she decides to leave Charleston and head to the frontier to trade for Owen's life. After arriving in the Appalachians, Quinn is told of a guide named Jackson Wolf who could help her negotiate her cousins freedom.Then this story leads us to Jack Wolf who Quinn employs to track her cousin and then this story takes off from here. We find that Jack is half Cherokee and Irish who also works in the service as a part time translator for the British and a guide and from this he will have some real decisions to make. "With the impending war, Jack is to make a choice: either to be entrusted by the King as a translator, or to commit treason." Now, this is where I say you must pick up "Keowee Valley" to see what all this author will have for the reader. This will be a interesting read on how this author will get this all together for the reader. Be prepared for plenty of action, adventure, romance and the history as it all comes together giving the reader in the end a amazing good and well written read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Quinn yearns for the freedom of the valley; not only does she yearn, she dreams. With the familial MacFadden Sight in tow, she dreams her way to her ambitions. While she's on a mission to find and free her cousin, Owen, from the hands of the Iroquois, she gains her own settlement, The MacFadden settlement. Her guide, half-Cherokee half-Irishman, Jackson Wolf changes her life course as she finds herself falling madly in love. With the impending war, Jack is to make a choice: either to be entrusted by the King as a translator, or to commit treason.

    "'I just wonder if you've considered that by trusting this man, you are taking on two lives: one white, one savage. Can you live in that in-between world, Quincy?'" (loc. 1425)

    Such a well written piece. As a debut novel, I'm taken aback at how seasoned and classic this novel feels. Told in first-person, I felt as though I was reading a diary and thus entering the inner most thoughts of Quinn. Quinn, as the strong independent woman she is, was a breath of fresh air from the usual damsel in distress. The depth this book goes into, steeped in history and culture, is wonderfully done. I admit I was a bit weary to continue, in the beginning, but I'm glad I did because the story line of war, freedom and romance caught me up in my imagination. As the descriptive scenery and vivd characterization is put before us, the author paints a glorious picture of a in-depth historical romance.

    First Line: "My story begins before the fall, in that Indian summer time when the hills are tipped with oncoming old, and the light hangs just above the trees, dotting the Blue Ridge with gilded freckles." (loc. 50)

    Last Line: "For the land called to me even now, in an ancient tongue, willing me home." (loc. 5350)
    ----------
    Quotes

    "In the eighteen years I'd known my cousin Owen, I'd lost him four times." (loc.102)

    "It all came to this: could Grandfather send me to trade for Owen, surely a man's job, dangerous and uncertain?" (loc.184)

    "It infuriated me that I remained at the mercy of Jackson Wolf, a man I didn't know and was beginning to doubt I'd ever meet." (loc. 823)

    "I wanted the creek to myself, the whole valley to myself, the world--before life began again and the day wasn't wholly mine anymore." (loc. 895)

    "He'd said we were meant. That we belonged together. But was it enough?" (loc. 2000)

    "But the pain was only a pulsing reminder of the task at hand: I had to find out what was happening in Charlestown. I had to know if the war I'd been dreaming of had begun." (loc. 2242)


    Galley Courtesy of Bell Bridge Books via NetGalley
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Quincey MacFadden, twenty-five, lives in Charlestown, South Carolina with her grandsire in 1768. They had been grieving over the loss of her cousin to a band of Shawnee Indians when a man shows up with his ring saying that the Shawnee still hold him alive but not for much longer. Quinn's grandfather cannot leave his business affairs to make the journey into the Blue Ridge Mountains to barter for his life, but Quinn can. Moreover, Quinn plans on using her dowry money to buy land and stay there where she can be free to be who she is: a woman who reads rides horses astride and cares not a whit for society.Though her grandfather is against it, Quinn and the man with the information head out with a local preacher as chaperon and her worldly goods and stuff to trade for land and for Owen's life. When they arrive at Fort Prince Georgie they discover that the soldiers are abandoning the fort and that the trapper that they are looking for, Jack Wolf, to help her find her cousin isn't there. They do come across two Cherokee and they agree to take her to Attakullakulla the head of the Cherokee to barter for land. Attakullakulla agrees to see the mad woman who wants to barter for land rather than just take it or marry into it. He swaps for 400 acres with the agreement that the Cherokee can use it to hunt on and that Cherokee and those they are friends with will have safe passage across it.While waiting for Jack Wolf to show up, she has already sent out the word that she is looking for homesteaders. The Cherokee take her to her land and soon people begin to arrive looking to work the land in exchange for a home on it. They seem surprised when she doesn't charge them for the land. Some families come as well as an ex-slave named Hosa and a former lord named Harris. They begin to build homes on the site starting with hers first.Then Jack Wolf arrives. The half Irish half Cherokee man captivates her from the start as she does him. He tells her its way too dangerous for her to go after her cousin. That he'll go and get him for her and the voice in her head that is part of her Sight, of which she sometimes sees things to come and things that have passed, tells her to trust him, so she does. It isn't too long before her cousin is returned to her. She had hoped that he would stay and live with her, but he has had his fill of wilderness and wants to go home to boring Charlestown and work for grandfather.Ridge Runner, Jack's half-brother hunts with him and the two would leave food for the people of the settlement. At first, his presence caused unease but gradually those that found him unsettling warmed up to him. He named the wild Arabian horse Quinn tames Fire Eater and he gives Quinn her Cherokee name Rides-Like-A-Man.Jack wants to marry Quinn but she doesn't want to give up her land or her freedom to some man, even though he assures her he has no interest in her land and he would never dream of curtailing her freedom. On top of that, both Quinn and her cousin have both had visions of a war to come and neither knows which side the Cherokee play in it. Where she lives she should be safe from the fighting as far as they know which is why he intends to send her his soon-to-be wife at some point in the future.This is a totally fascinating read with great characters and a fantastic storyline. The descriptions are so vivid of the lands and the people populating them. There's the ever stoic Ridge Runner who will surprise you when he does show his feelings. The wild and free Quinn who does as she likes to make the world fit her rather than the other way around, even though it probably can't last forever. The mysterious Jack with the lilt in his voice and an easy smile on his face who can always sneak up on Quinn. You might have to make some leaps of faith in the storyline like when the homestead seems to magically come together and have no problems whatsoever. But the plot goes by so fast that such plot holes can be easily overlooked. While it's a bit of a bodice ripper it's still a historic novel at the same time that illuminates a time, a people, and a place with such precision. I really enjoyed this book and I cannot recommend it enough. Quotes“A Duke overpowered by a woman,” Owen scoffed, tucking his hands in the pockets of this jacket and raising a rust colored eyebrow. “Why does he allow his own mother to rule over him?” Grandfather reached out, popped him lightly on the back of the head. “We’re all ruled by women, boy—you’re just too much the bantam rooster to recognize it.”-Katherine Scott Crawford (Keowee Valley p 281)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Reviewed by: DesereBook provided by: NetGalleyReview originally posted at Romancing the BookThis was a superb debut from a brilliant author! I loved each and every moment of a truly historical and phenomenal read. I had a really hard time trying to put this one town as the author took every aspect of this book and changed it into so much more. The characters are the kind that will forever stay in my mind.The author took me on a journey that felt unbelievably real,it was as if I could touch each character, feel every move and hear every sentence spoken. I loved that the authors landscape and other descriptions were so stunningly and exquisitely described.Both characters were strong and determined to make the best of a difficult situation but each also has their own inner turmoil to overcome. The plot was very well laid out,and surprisingly it turned out very differently that I envisioned when I started read this book,but yes the author did a great job at bringing the plot together with precision and intrigue.The sex scenes were very tastefully written. This was a really fantastic read. The dialogue was at times almost snippy and fun but others again so emotional that I was almost brought to tears. This book is guaranteed to transport you back in time where nothing is ever what is seems.Excellent work Katherine!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book started off with Quincy leaving the comfort of Charleston society to rescue her cousin, who was kidnapped by Indians. Along the way she establishes a homestead within Indian territory. I thought that Quincy was going to track her cousin herself, however she employed Jack Wolf to do so. When her cousin was rescued with little effort on her part, I put the book down. I felt a bit cheated, I wanted to hear about her journey into hostile territory.