Homestead

A New Land and a New Journey…

After the deaths of her family during their journey West in the summer of 1863, ten-year-old Frankie Harding continued on the trail, determined to find her family's homestead waiting for her somewhere deep within the Sand Hills of the Nebraska Territory. When she finally pulls her team and wagon to a stop on her family's homestead, she believed her journey was over.

Frankie learns, however, that settling into life on a homestead is its own unique journey — a new and different journey. She learns that living within the land of the Sand Hills is vastly different than the life she knew on the open prairie; this new land, along with its unique and profound beauty, has its own rules and ways, as well as its own mysteries and unknowns. To survive and thrive on her homestead, she must unravel the mysteries and find the answers to the unknowns. With winter approaching—and the harsh weather and storms that come with it—she has a limited amount of time to learn the truths about her new homeland.

And, there are other challenges to this new journey that Frankie must face. Other homesteaders who have settled in the Sand Hills have their own rules and their own ways of doing things—and they have certain ideas about a ten-year-old girl living alone on a homestead. There are tribes of Indians roaming the Sand Hills with their own customs and their own ways of living—they, too, have their own ways of dealing with a young white girl living alone. And, Cavalry troops from distant forts have their orders to follow—they have their own regulations and dictates regarding ten-year-old girls living alone on the land.

Frankie Harding has been tested by life before and she fought whatever battles were necessary to hold her life and her future together. Now, once again, she has to face all the twists and turns, dangers and complications that arise in her life. But this time, she's forced to find different ways to deal with adversity—because now, disappearing into the prairie is no longer an option. Because she's already home. And now, there's nowhere else to go.

True to herself and to her future, Frankie's not willing to give up what she sees as rightfully hers. Once again, she's chosen her direction—and once again, she's determined to complete a new journey. A very different journey.

by Kittredge McKee

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