Burning Sky

Burning Sky by Lori Benton is an ambitious novel of 400 pages that includes Author's Notes, a glossary, and a Reader's Guide. The cover is beautiful and it is quite a substantial book. The storyline follows Willa Obenchain, alias Burning Sky, who is abducted by Mohawk Indians when she is fourteen years old. Twelve years later, she decides to return to her family's home in New York. When she returns she find nothing as she expected to find it - her parents are missing, and her former friend is now claiming to own her family's land and is nothing like she remembered. This is a story of a girl caught between two completely different worlds and cultures against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War. I admit I was a bit hesitant to choose this title, as Indian/frontier novels usually aren't my favorite, and based on the description, I feared this was a rewritten Pocahontas story. However, this book pleasantly surprised me at every turn. I was immediately drawn in to the storyline, and Willa/Burning Sky's plight captivated me. The writing about the time period and the Indian tribes seemed authentic and real, not contrived - which can be difficult to attain in this type of novel. There were plenty of plot twists and turns to keep me interested and reading, and I enjoyed the love story running throughout the novel. I could tell this book was very well researched. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical or Christian fiction. I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.