This charming and involving historical novel brings readers to the Southwest Territory (now Tennessee) in 1792. The Bakers live with an inescapable fear: their ten-year old daughter, Lizzy, suffers from extremely serious asthma, which grows increasingly worse every fall. Lizzy barely survives her first autumn in the territory, saved only by an early frost, and she realizes that she might not survive the next year. No one knows the cause of Lizzy’s illness; the confident local doctor knows even less than the midwife. Meanwhile, on a trip to town, the family meets richly dressed Mrs. Beaumont, who has left Charleston, South Carolina, to join her husband while he speculates on land. The townspeople at first shun the Beaumonts, but Mrs. Beaumont becomes friendly with Lizzy’s family, coming to help when things look the worst. Finally she offers to take Lizzy back to Charleston, where she hopes the sea air will cure her. Lizzy must decide whether she will leave her home, knowing that she may never see her family again. As she tells her story, readers will come to know the period and the lifestyle as well as a little something about pioneer medicine. A sub-theme explores the idea why the Beaumonts hold slaves, a practice Lizzy disapproves of. An author’s note explains the possibilities of Lizzy’s survival and fills in other information about the period. A unique look at early American history. (Fiction. 10-12)
