Tessa Swan, only sister among five brothers, yearns for just a taste of an easier life than the one she lives along the Buckhannon River in western Virginia. Tessa and her farming family struggle to survive as members of American Indian tribes raid and kill along the frontier, their safety tied to the new Fort Tygart. Tessa is tough and strong, but when war hero Clay Tygart, for whom the fort was named, arrives with former American Indian captive Keturah Braam, Tessa has met her match. Keturah had been captured as a young girl by the Lenape people, as had Clay himself, but she remembers her dearest friend Tessa. As they renew their friendship, Clay and Tessa forge a friendship as well, with all their fates tied to the warring Indian tribes, the soundness of the fort’s defenses, and the whims of nature.
Frantz is a Christy Award-winning novelist and author of 10 other novels including Courting Morrow Little, The Lacemaker, and A Bound Heart. Her writing expertise shines brightly in this riveting novel set in a pre-Revolutionary War settlement. Readers will feel, right along with Tessa, the trauma of constant danger, the struggles a frontier woman faces, and the tentative steps she takes toward love. An Uncommon Woman is one of the best novels written about this time period in American history. Frantz does an exceptional job with her carefully researched history and her rich tale of heroism and love. (Revell)
About the Author
Ann Byle is author of Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens. She is a freelance writer and author of several other books, magazine articles, and reviews. She lives in Grand Rapids, Mich.