At the age of twelve, an orphan named
Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent
on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the
Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will
is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post.
As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in
Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his
people, developing relationships that ultimately forge
Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the
enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful
Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart. In a
distinct voice filled with both humor and yearning, Will
tells of a lifelong search for home, the hunger for fortune
and adventure, the rebuilding of a trampled culture, and
above all an enduring pursuit of passion. As he comes to
realize, “When all else is lost and gone forever, there is
yearning. One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that
only desire trumps time."
Will Cooper, in the hands
of Charles Frazier, becomes a classic American soul: a man
devoted to a place and its people, a woman, and a way of
life, all of which are forever just beyond his reach.
Thirteen Moons takes us from the uncharted
wilderness of an unspoiled continent, across the South, up
and down the Mississippi, and to the urban clamor of a raw
Washington City. Throughout, Will is swept along as the wild
beauty of the nineteenth century gives way to the
telephones, automobiles, and encroaching railways of the
twentieth. Steeped in history, rich in insight, and filled
with moments of sudden beauty, Thirteen Moons
is an unforgettable work of fiction by an American
master.