Where the Lost Wander

In Harmon’s passionate tale of pioneers and Native Americans (after What the Wind Knows), a young widow falls in love with her wagon party’s mule driver. Twenty-year-old widow Naomi May is traveling with her family on a wagon train from St. Joseph, Mo., to California in 1853 when she meets John Lowry, known as Two Feet by his Pawnee mother’s family for “straddling two worlds.” Naomi is drawn to him, and John is attracted to Naomi’s beauty, resilience, and devotion to her family, but his awareness of the prejudice he faces due to his Pawnee heritage makes him reluctant to believe they could have a future together. Misadventures abound as members of the wagon train succumb to cholera, endure difficult river crossings, and face confrontations with Sioux warriors. After the wagons are attacked and burned by a war party, Naomi and her infant brother, Wolfe, are kidnapped and John determines to save them. Harmon richly details the train leaders’ stubborn handling of the trail’s challenges from John’s point of view, foreshadowing the fate awaiting them. The genuine bond between John and Naomi will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Apr.)