Savannah Author:Janice Holt Giles Savanna is the sixth in Janice Holt Giles' series of novels about the american frontier. Like Johnny Osage, it is set in the AK Territory, now the state of OK, where Mrs. Giles herself grew up. The many readers of the earlier books will find here the same authenticity and feeling for the background and period. They will also find a heroine of gr... more »eat charm and subtlety, as unpredictable as she is glamorous.
Savanna Fowler was a throwback to both her grandmothers - with Tattie Cartwright's stormy spirit and Hannah Fowler's unshakable will. Widowed at nineteen, she faced life alone on the rough frontier, determined to show herself the equal of any man. As a baby, her first words had been: "By myself," and this became the theme of her existence as she went her own willful, exuberant way, defying conventions and the excellent advice of those who had her best interests at heart. Who but Savanna would bandage her blistered hands (blistered through her own folly) to ride in a horse race? Would stubbornly insist on running her trading stores in the face of competition from such experienced and ruthless men as August Chouteau and Sam Houston? Would prefer the attentions of an army sergreant to those of the commanding general?
Her story is a part of the story of the frontier, of Fort Gibson and the U> US> Seventh Regiment, of the fierce competition between trading posts, and the strange (and possibly sinister) actions of President Jackson's protege, Sam Houston,. In the five turbulent years following the death of her first husband the lust for living which was one side of Savanna's heritage brought her passion, violence, tragedy, and despair/ The enduring strength from the other side bore he through to fortitude and a kind - her own kind - of peace.« less