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From Publishers Weekly
In this overly long and melodramatic sequel to Into the Wilderness, Donati continues the saga of the Bonner family as they struggle to survive in the wilderness of New York in 1802. They live on a secluded farmstead, high up on a mountain; the nearest town is named Paradise, a cruel joke for a place full of suspicious, fearful gossipmongers. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bonner are solid citizens and loving parents, a kind of Ward and June Cleaver in buckskin. Hannah, a bright, courageous young woman who dreams of becoming a doctor, is Nathaniel's half-Mohawk daughter by his first wife. The plot involves all the Bonners, and their white and Indian relatives and friends, in the dangerous scheme of smuggling escaped slaves north to freedom in Canada. Add spurned lovers, bounty hunters, scheming women, colorful crackpots, racial prejudice, cruelty, murder, robbery, illicit sex, smallpox and an epidemic of scarlet fever, and 600 pages go by pretty quickly. There is little suspense, despite the smuggling plotline, and the reader is left merely to keep track of scores of characters (many of whom die during the epidemic). Hannah is the most compelling figure, as she tries to combine Indian and white man's medicines and be accepted in an insular, male-dominated profession while also dealing with an old flame who's tracking a runaway slave. Donati's descriptions of early 19th-century medical procedures, remedies and primitive vaccination techniques are graphic and authentic. Although the story could have been trimmed by at least 100 pages, it will still please fans of soap-opera-style historical fiction.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Set in late-eighteenth-century upstate New York on the edge of the frontier, Donati's latest novel continues the story of Elizabeth, Nathaniel, and Hannah (Nathaniel's half-Indian daughter) Bonner, other members of their extended family, and the various cast of quirky, ill-behaved, or good and honorable characters inhabiting the lonely town of Paradise. The Bonners have been through quite a lot in Donati's past two books; the action this time centers on Hannah, a beautiful and independent-minded young woman who also is celebrated in Paradise for her exceptional healing skills. When a dangerously ill and extremely pregnant runaway slave is discovered near the Bonner home, Hannah insists on nursing the woman back to health, despite the fact that hiding and helping the runaway slave puts her and her family at risk. A further plot twist arrives in the form of a bounty hunter looking to capture the runaway slave. He turns out to be Hannah's childhood friend and first love, the handsome but troubled Liam Kirby. Donati's fans have been eagerly awaiting this third installment in the dramatic lives of the Bonner family, and they will be pleased, for this is a sweeping, enjoyable historical adventure-love story. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Bit of a Let Down, but Still Entertaining,
By Ms Winston (East Coast U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lake in the Clouds (Mass Market Paperback)
Of the three books so far in the series, this is my least favorite, and I am sure it is because the focus has shifted from Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner to Hannah, Nathaniel's daughter by his first wife, who was an Indian. Hannah is just entirely too noble for this reader to relate to comfortably, and, indeed, I found that the Bonners & many of their neighbors are starting to become a little too politically correct for their time period. In the first book of the series I felt that because Elizabeth was a follower of Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley her feminist point of view was understandable, and her character is still consistent with those principles. The fact that most of the other "good guys" feel the same way is perhaps stretching the truth of the time period a little thin, although Donati does give a more balanced portrait of a conflicted character in bounty-hunter Liam Kirby. Hannah's determination to become a doctor couldn't have arrived at a worse time, as even female midwives were being forced out of practice in the more populated areas because the use of obstetrical forceps were reserved for men. However, in this book Hannah being part Indian is more of a barrier to becomming being a doctor than being a women, which is just not realistic. The fact that she is half Indian and cannot decide for much of the book which side of her heritage has the bigger claim is the main plot driver. That also brings in one of the more appealing characters in the book, the Indian Strikes the Sky. The most interested parts of the book in my opinion are the ones that take place in New York City, and involve the Almshouse, manumission of slaves, and the Tammany Society. In other words, the closer Donati stayed to history the better the book. Still and all, this book is a cut above the run of the mill historical romance -- although Bantam has not, rightly in my opinion, classifed it as a romance novel, but rather as a straight historical. It is full of rich detail, and has an earthy quality that is missing in so many books that deal with this period, when it is dealt with at all. For those who are looking for an enjoyable novel set in post-Revolutionary War America this is a good choice.
4.0 out of 5 stars
3rd in a breathtaking series.,
By
This review is from: Lake in the Clouds (Mass Market Paperback)
Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner are back in their beloved mountain home in New York state.The village is still suffering from the after effects of a typhoid epidemic and Hannah, Nathaniels daughter from his first marriage, is studying to be a doctor under the tutelage of Dr. Richard Todd. He semds her to the city to learn the process of vaccination so that she might return to innoculate all of the villagers and also the local Indians. Elizabeth and Nathaniel smuggle a runaway slave to Canada which results in "blackbirders"-slave bounty hunters, arriving in Paradise, the village near their home to try to implicate the Bonners and their friends in the escape.It's a great third book in the series and I can't wait for book 4.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lake in the Clouds,
By Theresa (Sylacauga, AL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lake in the Clouds (Mass Market Paperback)
Loved this one! It was good to have the Bonners back in America and to follow the steps of Hannah as she grows into womanhood. What a strong independent young woman she has turned out to be. Sara Donati is one of today's most brilliant historical fiction novelists.
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