The book is about a young family of early settlers to Florida. The family is comprised of a Caucasian couple & their young daughter, who is Native Indian. This aspect creates some of the story’s tension initially, but then the story’s cause of tension shifts to the unsophisticated neighbor. It subsequently changes to the challenges in developing the village & finally full circle back to where we started, and in the nearby Native Indian community. The story was very wholesome and family-oriented (such that I was reminded of watching ‘The Waltons’ as a child). The characters are well-developed and gradually build in number, paralleling the growth of the local community. I was interested in reading about how these homesteaders lived, though I lost interest in the middle section, (which I skimmed). The ending was suitable and satisfactory. The book is well-written, well-structured & evenly paced, but slow.

I was new to this series, and the story worked well as a stand-alone. Thank you to the author and publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. ( )