Walk in My Soul
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| Author | Lucia St. Clair Robson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel, Western novel |
| Publisher | Ballantine |
| Released | 12 May 1985 |
| Media Type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 656 pages (Paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-34701-3 (Paperback edition) |
Walk in My Soul is a 1985 historical novel by Lucia St. Clair Robson.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Introduction
It is the story of Tiana Rogers of the Cherokee, the young Sam Houston, and the Trail of Tears.
[edit] Plot summary
Tiana grew up learning the magic, spells, and nature religion of the Cherokee. And in a tribe that revered the life force that was female, she became a beloved woman—priestess, warrior, healer, and teacher.
Known as the "father of Texas", the young Sam Houston ran away on a lark from his family’s general store in Maryville, Tennessee, to live among the Cherokee. He hunted and played ritual games with the men and was adopted as a headman’s son and was known as "Raven".
Houston falls in love with Tiana, but due to their differing racial and cultural backgrounds, conflict ensues.
[edit] Excerpt
- Nine-year-old Tiana Rogers stamped her foot and glared up at her father. To spite him, she shouted in Cherokee, knowing he had never mastered its complexity. But it was difficult for Tiana to stare and shout. Her mother had taught her the Indian way of averting her eyes and keeping her voice low. Besides, a child almost never defied her parents. Rudeness was bad enough. Rudeness to a parent was almost unthinkable. Tiana’s younger sister, Susannah, and her older half-sister, Nannie, silently urged her on.
- “This one won’t go to school!” Tiana shouted, using the formal third person. “She won’t!”
- “Oh yes you will!” Jack Rogers roared back in English. He had lived almost thirty years with the Cherokees and he knew how hard it was for her to argue with him,. He admired her spunk, but he also pressed his advantage. He held her dark, blue-gray eyes with his own pale blue ones, and worked himself into a good imitation of fury. “I’ll not be having ignorant little heathens for daughters. You’re Rogers. You come from fine Scots stock. You will be educated,” he reached full volume, “or by the holy God, I’ll beat refinement into you!”
- “Tiana is Ami Yun’wiya, one of the Real People,” the child yelled, leaning backwards to look up at him. She switched to the English she had learned from him. “I’ll not be shut up in a stinking school with a purse-mouthed, bowel-locked, religious prig.” Tiana’s voice rose shrilly. She could feel her control slipping and tears stinging her eyes. She gave one last volley in her defense. “I won’t!” She whirled and sprinted through the open door. Nannie and Susannah followed her across the wide porch and leaped the three stairs down into the yard. Their short smocks flew up to flash bare bottoms. They ran across the trampled barnyard and disappeared into the bushes.
- Jack Rogers watched them from the doorway. The six-foot, two-inch lintel barely cleared his head. He smiled a little. Damn but it was good to let loose and rip now and then. Indian courtesy was wearing on a man not raised to it. Arguing with a Cherokee was like trying to fell a reed with an ax.
