Customer Reviews

Dawn on a Distant Shore

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is the 2nd in the Wilderness Series.

It is easy to get caught up in this sweeping saga of a well born English lady who makes her home in the Northern reaches of New York State during the 1700's.

I am loving this series of novels and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good story.

Sequels often are big let-downs, but fortunately that is not the case with "Dawn on a Distant Shore," the second book in a projected five part series that started with "Into the Wilderness."

Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner are still the focus of the story, which moves along at a fairly brisk clip, although it does falter toward the end when the action moves from Canada to Scotland. Elizabeth still exhibits the same moral and physical courage as she did in the first book of the series. When her husband Nathaniel follows his father Daniel to Montreal, the younger man is also arrested and is likely to be hanged as a spy. Elizabeth, having given birth to twins, takes her babies to Canada in the dead of winter to try to save him. As in the previous book, no one is ever quite who or what they seem, and the Bonners encounter many shady characters in trying to determine Daniel Bonner's heritage....the secret of which lies in Scotland.

Sara Donati is a gifted storyteller. She has a good ear for natural sounding dialogue, her plotting is refreshingly original, and her characters are appealing -- even the "bad guys" have shades of gray in their character. My main criticism of this book had to do with the slowing of the action once the story moved to Scotland, and the fact that Nathaniel's daughter (Hannah or Squirrel) from his first marriage has started to take center stage. For some reason authors seem to feel compelled to make children in historical novels into little adults, and Hannah is no exception to that "rule." Her emotions are simply too adult-like to be appealing to this reader. However, I still highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something a little different in an historical family saga. The fourth book in the series will be out in hardcover this fall.

This is the second in a series of three published books by this author. Following on the heels of the author's enormously popular debut novel, "Into the Wilderness", this novel attempts to pick up where the other one left off. While eminently entertaining, it does not reach the heights of the author's beautifully written, debut novel.

In this sequel, Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner have their idyllic married life in late eighteenth century Upstate New York shattered shortly after Elizabeth gives birth to a set of fraternal twins. Nathaniel, upon learning that his father, Hawkeye, an intrepid backwoodsman with strong ties to the Mohawk nation, has been arrested in Canada, departs to the rescue. When he sets foot over the border, he, too, find himself arrested as a spy and imprisoned in Montreal with his father, victim of a sinister plot.

Elizabeth, never one to sit by idly, packs up the twins, and she, too, goes to the rescue. The Bonner men, however, are released through the intervention of others before Elizabeth and her entourage arrive. The hand of fate deals them yet another blow, however, when they all are spirited away by ship to Scotland, where the Catholic Earl of Carryck awaits their arrival. It seems that the Earl has determined that Hawkeye is his long lost first cousin and, consequently, his heir. The Earl means for Hawkeye or Nathaniel to inherit the Earldom, in order to thwart his Protestant adversaries. Unfortunately for the Earl, the entire Bonner family proves to be uncooperative, leading to many adventures, both on land and on the high seas.

Part of the charm of the author's debut novel lay in its telling of life in Upstate New York in the late eighteenth century, with all of its historical underpinnings. That is entirely is lost here, as this novel takes a decidedly international turn. Some of the adventures are a little too far-fetched, making the novel seem a bit incongruous at times, though still eminently readable on its own terms. Those who enjoyed the author's debut novel will, undoubtedly, enjoy this sequel, though with an underlying layer of disappointment that the debut novel proved to be just too hard an act to follow. Still, notwithstanding this, I am looking forward to reading the third novel in this series, "Lake in the Clouds", as will all fans of this author.

This story took me across the pond and into a world of adventure. The love that Nathaniel and Elizabeth have and the family devotion is magic. Thank you Sara for allowing me to live this story.

Into the Wilderness was one of the best books I have ever read and I have been reading since a very young person. Naturally I couldn't wait to get into Dawn on a Distant Shore and continue the saga of Elizabeth and Nathaniel. It starts with Elizabeth giving birth to twins while only Hannah is with her and a raging snowstorm outside has kept Nathaniel and Curiosity down in Paradise unable to get to her. Hawkeye is in Montreal in prison and Nathaniel finally is persuaded to go up and see if he can get him out. This is due to the business of the Earl of Carryck in Scotland, who is trying to get Hawkeye (or Nathaniel) back there to carry on the line so the property won't be turned over to the English upon his death.

Elizabeth gets word that Nathaniel is now in prison up in Montreal and is determined to go up and do what she can to get them out. She takes Hannah and the twins with her and sets off. Many twists and turns later, unbeknownst to Elizabeth, the men are broken out of prison and put on a ship to get out of Canada. They all do meet up but find themselves in a mess and on their way to Scotland. Curiosity and Robbie are there also along with Moncrief who has been sent by the Earl to get Hawkeye or Nathaniel back to Scotland. An old lover of Nathaniel's from his teenage years in Montreal plays an interesting part also. Much intrigue when finally the whole situation straightens out with Nathaniel finding out about a son he didn't know he had by this old lover. The boy agrees to take the family name and live in Scotland to carry on the family line.

Not as riveting as Into the Wilderness but anyone who liked the first book would like this one as well. All the main characters stay true to themselves from the first book so it isn't dull. Just not as good as the first one but that would be a very hard act to follow. Just glad they are coming home!

After falling in love with Nathaniel and Elizabeth in Into the Wilderness, I was thrilled to continue on with the series. Much to my dismay, this book did not live up to my expectations. Is it a coincidence that Gabaldon's Voyager and this book, both set mainly upon the high seas, were my least favorite out of each author's series? Hmmm. The only thing that kept me going was the promise of the third book Lake in The Clouds. The book is worth reading, don't get me wrong. Especially for those who continue on with a series. The Scotland thing seemed unnecessary to me. I would have been happier if they'd stayed in North America. Oh well. Artistic license.

When I read Into The Wilderness last year, it ended up being one of the top ten books I had read in 2002. Naturally, I was really looking forward to this second book in the series to continue where I left off with Nathaniel and Elizabeth.

In addition to loving the relationship between these two characters, I was also drawn to the setting of Hidden Wolf Mountain at the edge of the New York wilderness. Sometimes I wonder why an author chooses to change the setting of a book when that locale was obviously so successful in the first place. In Dawn on a Distant Shore, Sare Donati forces the reader to accompany the main characters first to Montreal and then on a ship across the ocean to Scotland. This took away from my enjoyment of the book. If I wanted to be in Scotland, I'd be reading Gabaldon's Outlander series and not this one.

With all that said, the main crux of this story is for Donati to get across to the reader how persecuted Catholics were in Scotland in the late eighteenth century and how important it was for them to keep their lands away from the Protestants. To this end, she has Nathaniel finding out that his father, Hawkeye, is a descendant of the Scott's of Carryckcastle in Scotland and the Earl of Carryck is very eager to have Hawkeye come to Scotland to claim his line in the family tree. In doing so, the lands of Carryck would pass on to Hawkeye's son Nathaniel upon the death of the Earl and would consequently remain in the hands of the family....Catholic hands. Needless to say, Hawkeye and Nathaniel have no desire to reside in Scotland so the Earl has no choice but to kidnap Nathaniel's children forcing him to come to Scotland to be reunited with his family. Have I bored you enough yet???

A major part of this story takes place on various ships getting to and from Scotland. Ever since I read Moby Dick, there's nothing I like less than reading about ocean voyages. The other major section of this book takes place in Scotland and I like that even less because you have to try to decipher the Scottish accent when reading. Instead of having a cast of characters and some maps at the beginning of the book, I'd much rather have a dictionary explaining what some of the Scottish words mean. It took me forever to figure out that "ken" means know, "na" means not and "tae" means to.

The good news is that the next book in this series, Lake In The Clouds, actually has Nathaniel and Elizabeth back on the land they know and love. It also brings back many of the characters Donati's readers enjoyed in her first book, Into The Wilderness. Based on this, I look forward to this next adventure and only hope that Donati has no plans to return her characters to Scotland...they don't want to go there and neither do I with this series.

I thought this book started off with a bang, however, it seemed to slow considerably once the Bonner's finally reached Scotland. Then it seemed to drag and I found myself skimming through pages. Also, I found a few too many similarities with the Outlander series...the "civilized" lady falling in love with the "savage" ,long haired man...the Scottish dialogue...the endless amount of adventure...All in all, I liked this book, however, I think I'll read a few other books before I move on to "Lake in the Clouds".

I came upon this book by chance, and was overwhelmingly surprised. It's been years since I read a historical novel that was so well written. But do yourself a favor, read Into the Wilderness first. I found myself wondering so much about references to things that happened in the first book that I just had to search for it to read. And I wasn't disappointed. But I do actually think Dawn on a Distant Shore is better written. There's so much action, every time you think a matter is resolved, another one pops up right on its heels. It's like Elizabeth can never catch a break. I am now eagerly awaiting the paperback printing of Lake in The Clouds. I plan to pass these books on as a set, to anyone I know who is into historical novels.

I was depressed after I finished reading DoaDS. Sara Donati, a rising star in fiction (and in my heart) disappointed me severely in this book.

If you fell in love with Into the Wilderness (her first book) because of the town of Paradise, the romance between Nathaniel and Elizabeth, and the rich settings of the frontier, you won't care for this book.

It's not about that. Elizabeth and Nathaniel seem less concerned with growing together as a couple, and more concerned with solving some Scottish mystery that seems to have been thrown in purely to churn out a sequel. The majority of this novel deals with the Bonner's adventures in Scotland, where a peer of the realm involves them in the warped history of his family that's somehow magically tied in to Hawkeye's past.

Some of my favorite characters from Into the Wilderness, (Many-Doves, Runs-From-Bears, Liam Kirby) factor into this book very little. I still finished the book, but I found that it did not leave me satisfied.