20181224_100543.jpgHappy Thursday and welcome to my stop on Cherokee America by Margaret Verble blog tour hosted by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours! I have a review and giveaway for you so make sure to read all the way to the bottom to check it out.

My Thoughts:

You need to know going into Cherokee America that there are gobs of characters, and they will be introduced rather quickly for the first chunk of the book. I read a review that mentioned bookmarking those pages where the characters are introduced, and that helped me keep up. Once you have the characters down, there is much to love within this story. 

The year is 1875, and the setting is Cherokee Nation West. Cherokee America Singer, nicknamed “Check,” is our beloved, strong main character. She’s a wealthy mother to five boys, finding her fortune in farming. 

There are multiple plots to follow. A murder involving one of her sons, a neighbor disappears, a gold stash is stolen- basically, bad things are happening on the sometimes lawless frontier. The violence seems to escalating, and something has to be done. What can Check get her community to do? 

The frontier is a land of rough and tumble, and Margaret Verble’s writing transports you to that fervent time and place. Check is a hero of a character- one to admire, one to shake your head, one to be in awe of her sheer grit and determination. This is a dense, epic story, requiring some patience, but with that investment, I found the pay-off residing in my fondness for Check and her family. 

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

Cherokee America
by Margaret Verble

Publication Date: February 19, 2019
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover & eBook; 400 Pages

Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction/Native American

 

 

From the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Maud’s Line, an epic novel that follows a web of complex family alliances and culture clashes in the Cherokee Nation during the aftermath of the Civil War, and the unforgettable woman at its center.

It’s the early spring of 1875 in the Cherokee Nation West. A baby, a black hired hand, a bay horse, a gun, a gold stash, and a preacher have all gone missing. Cherokee America Singer, known as “Check,” a wealthy farmer, mother of five boys, and soon-to-be widow, is not amused.

In this epic of the American frontier, several plots intertwine around the heroic and resolute Check: her son is caught in a compromising position that results in murder; a neighbor disappears; another man is killed. The tension mounts and the violence escalates as Check’s mixed race family, friends, and neighbors come together to protect their community—and painfully expel one of their own.

Cherokee America vividly, and often with humor, explores the bonds—of blood and place, of buried histories and half-told tales, of past grief and present injury—that connect a colorful, eclectic cast of characters, anchored by the clever, determined, and unforgettable Check.

Praise for Cherokee America

“Highly recommended for readers of literary historical fiction in the vein of Lalita Tademy’s Citizen’s Creek and Paulette Jiles’s News of the World.”–Library Journal, STARRED review

“In Verble’s hands, this tale of a mother’s love and her gritty resolve in a shameful era of false promises and broken treaties makes for a rich, propulsive novel.”–Publishers Weekly

“An impressive, historical saga of Native American life in the mid-19th century.”–BookPage

“Cherokee America does what all the best historical fiction does—it vividly captures its particular time and place, yet simultaneously offers valuable insights about our own era. Margaret Verble is an exceptional storyteller, and this novel will enhance her already considerable literary reputation.”—Ron Rash, author of Serena

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About the Author

Margaret Verble is an enrolled and voting citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a member of a large Cherokee family that has, through generations, made many contributions to the tribe’s history and survival. Although many of her family have remained in Oklahoma to this day, and some still own and farm the land on which the book is set, Margaret was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Many of the characters of Maud’s Line are based on people Margaret knew as a child and the setting is land she roamed for many years of her life. In part, Margaret wrote this book to keep those people and that land alive in her heart.

Margaret’s new novel, Cherokee America, will be released by Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt on Feb. 19, 2019. A prequel to Maud’s Line, it is set in 1875 in the Arkansas River bottoms of the old Cherokee Nation West.

Margaret is a member of the Authors Guild and Western Writers of America.

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Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, February 19
Feature at Coffee and Ink

Wednesday, February 20
Review at A Book Geek
Feature at Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots

Friday, February 22
Review at Creating Herstory
Feature at What Is That Book About

Tuesday, February 26
Review at Jennifer Silverwood’s Blog

Wednesday, February 27
Review at The Lit Bitch

Thursday, February 28
Review at Tar Heel Reader

Friday, March 1
Feature at View from the Birdhouse

Monday, March 4
Review at Amy’s Booket List

Thursday, March 7
Review at The Old Shelter
Feature at Donna’s Book Blog

Friday, March 8
Interview at The Old Shelter

Monday, March 11
Interview at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, March 13
Review at Passages to the Past

Friday, March 15
Review at bookramblings
Review at The Reading Woman

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour we will be giving away five copies of Cherokee America by Margaret Verble! To enter, please use the Gleam form below.

Giveaway Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on March 15th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Cherokee America Giveaway

Have you read Cherokee America, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR