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Hello all.
I have an 85,000 word Adult Historical Fiction (romantic but not a romance in the traditional sense) novel that is ready for beta readers.
Here is the blurb:
It’s 1796 and twenty-year-old James Macpherson is a long way from Scotland. He’s traveled half way around the globe, struggling to make a go of it in the American wilderness, after reluctantly following his uncle into the fur trade. Green as can be, he navigates intimidating native cultures, surly French-speaking voyageurs and the rigors of commanding men. To his surprise, it’s a role he relishes.
When he’s promoted to the head clerk of Fort Pembina, making profitable trades with the Ojibwe Indians should be his primary concern. But instead, he’s found himself smitten by Mary, an escaped slave his post harbored when they’d found her in the forest near death. Her sad tale of being traded from tribe to tribe so far from her western home inflames his most romantic notions.
As she recovers, their friendship blooms as well. Side by side in the wilderness, it is not long before Macpherson can’t imagine his life without her, and she feels the same way about him. Taking “country wives” is not uncommon; the North West Company even encourages it. But if he marries her, what happens when his contract expires and he has to go back to Scotland? She can’t come with him, Indians are not allowed. And the woman his uncle forced him to marry before he left wouldn’t like it much either.
The novel does have a bit of off-color language and there are occasional uses of racist terms that were (sadly) appropriate for the era. I'd give it a PG13 rating.
I'm seeking any comments, observations or thoughts anyone would like to offer.
I'm in no rush, so the reader could take their time with it.
I beta all the time and would be happy to reciprocate. I am lousy at fantasy, however, so I might have to bow out of that genre.
I have an 85,000 word Adult Historical Fiction (romantic but not a romance in the traditional sense) novel that is ready for beta readers.
Here is the blurb:
It’s 1796 and twenty-year-old James Macpherson is a long way from Scotland. He’s traveled half way around the globe, struggling to make a go of it in the American wilderness, after reluctantly following his uncle into the fur trade. Green as can be, he navigates intimidating native cultures, surly French-speaking voyageurs and the rigors of commanding men. To his surprise, it’s a role he relishes.
When he’s promoted to the head clerk of Fort Pembina, making profitable trades with the Ojibwe Indians should be his primary concern. But instead, he’s found himself smitten by Mary, an escaped slave his post harbored when they’d found her in the forest near death. Her sad tale of being traded from tribe to tribe so far from her western home inflames his most romantic notions.
As she recovers, their friendship blooms as well. Side by side in the wilderness, it is not long before Macpherson can’t imagine his life without her, and she feels the same way about him. Taking “country wives” is not uncommon; the North West Company even encourages it. But if he marries her, what happens when his contract expires and he has to go back to Scotland? She can’t come with him, Indians are not allowed. And the woman his uncle forced him to marry before he left wouldn’t like it much either.
The novel does have a bit of off-color language and there are occasional uses of racist terms that were (sadly) appropriate for the era. I'd give it a PG13 rating.
I'm seeking any comments, observations or thoughts anyone would like to offer.
I'm in no rush, so the reader could take their time with it.
I beta all the time and would be happy to reciprocate. I am lousy at fantasy, however, so I might have to bow out of that genre.
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