Traces: A Novel

The frontier was heaven for men and dogs, but hell for women and mules. Traces is a retelling of Daniel Boone's saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima. It explores the origins of rumors that Rebecca's children were fathered by Daniel's younger brother and exposes the harsh realities of frontier life. The Boone women's lives have been reduced to scattered footnotes in the historical record, but Patricia L. Hudson gives them voice and shows how their joys and sorrows were woven into the fabric of America's early years and the story of its westward expansion.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2022
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

An early American adage stated that the frontier was a paradise for men and dogs, while it was a hell for women and mules. Since the 1700s, when his name first appeared in print, Daniel Boone has been synonymous with America's westward expansion and life on the frontier. Traces is a retelling of Boone's saga through the eyes of his wife, Rebecca, and her two oldest daughters, Susannah and Jemima.

Daniel became a mythic figure during his lifetime, but his fame fueled backwoods gossip that bedeviled the Boone women throughout their lives, most notably the widespread suspicion that one of Rebecca's children was fathered by Daniel's younger brother. Traces explores the origins of these rumors, exposes the harsh realities of frontier life, and gives voice to the women whose vibrant lives have been reduced to little more than scattered footnotes within the historical record.

Daniel's restless wandering made the women eyewitnesses to the clash of cultures between the settlers and the indigenous tribes who fought to retain control of their native lands. Life on the frontier was an ongoing struggle for survival.

Patricia L. Hudson gives voice to these women, each of whom was a pioneer in their own right. The Boone women's joys and sorrows, as well as those of countless other forgotten women who braved the frontier, are invisibly woven into the fabric of America's early years and the story of this country's westward expansion.

Weight: 620g
Dimension: 162 x 236 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781950564286