Jubilee Trail

Summary

Charting the trail across the Great Plains from New York City to the Mexican Territory of California, a headstrong couple embarks on a new life in this classic work of historical fiction as unforgiving, moving, and unpredictable as the frontier.

A recent finishing school graduate, eighteen-year-old Garnet Cameron is desperate for direction. Too driven for the restrictive manners of the upper class, Garnet is naturally drawn to Oliver Hale, a frontier trader from the West. Unlike the men to whom she's accustomed, Oliver treats Garnet as an equal and respects her independence. His tales of adventure on the plains thrill her. And his proposal of marriage is accepted. Garnet eagerly grabs hold of the promise and prospects of an exciting future, only to discover how ill-prepared she is for the punishing landscape of the Jubilee Trail and the even harsher realities of human nature.

Made into a feature film, Jubilee Trail is a classic novel of a woman in the old West, beloved not only for the rebelliousness and resilience of its heroine, but for its authenticity, its grand sweep, its unsparing intimacy, and its honest portrayal of the survivors and victims—and victors and villains—of a defiant American wilderness.