About the Author:
Osceola has been Lucia St. Clair Robson's hero from fourth grade on. She went on to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, a teacher, and a librarian. After her first novel, Ride the Wind, appeared on the New York times best seller list, she began writing full time. While researching Light a Distant Fire, she revisited the wilderness she remembered from childhood, and explored the rivers and mangrove swamps where she had camped, canoed decades earlier.
From Publishers Weekly:
The author of Ride the Wind powerfully recreates the mid-19th century Seminole Indian Wars and the life of Osceola, who courageously led his people against an unjust U.S. government. Robson draws the reader into her story gradually with a portrait of Osceola's youth and family, which includes a couple of wives and daughters and a feisty grandmother named Fighting in a Line. The characters are authentic and substantial, and the plot, though loosely woven and slow moving at times, supplies the requisite love, struggle, danger and betrayal. The novel picks up speed when Robson introduces Lt. John Goode, a young West Point graduate. She deftly builds a relationship between Goode and Osceola, demonstrating Goode's initial perception of the Indians as savages, his growing admiration for them and his falling in love with and marrying a Seminole woman. By volunteering for Indian raids, the Lieutenant manages to steer the militiamen away from Osceola and his family. Goode's divided loyalties ultimately bring tragedy to Osceola, but the personal bond triumphs over political enmity. Robson's clear sympathy for the Seminole Indians does not prevent her from creating fictional portraits that illuminate the complexities on both sides.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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