Pioneering Alabama, Arkansas and settled Washington feature in this historical fiction. Emilie McCain was born during turmoil and tragedy in Alabama in 1813. The story follows her through the middle of the century. DAYS OF SUN AND SHADOW could also include days of rain, as flooding forms part of the narrative on a few occasions.

Poor Emilie is blamed by her hysterically upset mother for the loss of the rest of the children. Loved only by her grandmother, the child takes to caring for horses in a nearby barn. Travel in those days involved oxen and endless days of trudging in terrible weather with scant food. But people did it, as long as they thought they had somewhere to go. Susannah Ross moves from the Appalachians, ending up on Emilie’s doorstep with a husband dead on the trail. She is adopted by the McCains and provides a much-needed balance.

Land grants or deeds feature a few times. The McCains move to the Arkansas Territory. A riverboat provides part of the transport. Life is no easier wherever people go, because their grants are always for the poorest land.

I was fine following Emilie, who inherits the second sight and believes she sees an owl spirit. I got a bit tired of yet another woman being added to the mix, with her backstory and added turmoil. One such is Jodie, a plantation girl sold to a brothel and chosen by men who want someone barely older than a child. That’s not the only bad thing that happens to women, including Emilie, who finds out the hard way that she can’t trust her husband, Keller.  

Horses to be trained provide Emilie with an income during those pioneering days, and she buys a mare called Star for herself. Mainly, we are shown that life was hard for women, and involved more births than were practical, deaths of young and old, endless work and plentiful walking, and sometimes getting bought and sold or beaten by men just because they were female and men were greedy cowards. Only a couple of men come out well from this tale, Emilie’s father being one. Expect violence, strong language and crimes.

India Hayford has carried out endless historical research for DAYS OF SUN AND SHADOW, from the Red River changing its course to the fate of heroes in the Alamo. Let’s hear it for the women who made frontier life possible.