From the award-winning author of Eliza Waite comes a gripping tale of adventure and survival based on the true story of the ill-fated Donner Party on their 2,200-mile trek on the Oregon–California Trail from 1846 to ’47.
Nineteen-year-old Ada Weeks confronts danger and calamity along the hazard-filled journey to California. After a fateful decision that delays the overlanders more than a month, she—along with eighty-one other members of the Donner Party—finds herself stranded at Truckee Lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stuck there for the entirety of a despairing, blizzard-filled winter. Forced to eat shoe leather and blankets to survive, will Ada be able to battle the elements—and her own demons—as she envisions a new life in California?
Researched with impeccable detail and filled with imagery as wide as the western prairie, Answer Creek blends history and hearsay in an unforgettable story of challenging the limits of human endurance and experiencing the triumphant power of love.
Genre: Historical
Nineteen-year-old Ada Weeks confronts danger and calamity along the hazard-filled journey to California. After a fateful decision that delays the overlanders more than a month, she—along with eighty-one other members of the Donner Party—finds herself stranded at Truckee Lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stuck there for the entirety of a despairing, blizzard-filled winter. Forced to eat shoe leather and blankets to survive, will Ada be able to battle the elements—and her own demons—as she envisions a new life in California?
Researched with impeccable detail and filled with imagery as wide as the western prairie, Answer Creek blends history and hearsay in an unforgettable story of challenging the limits of human endurance and experiencing the triumphant power of love.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"Intimate, engrossing, and personal - this novel is so much more than the story of the Donner Party. It is the story of a budding young woman: her loves, her hopes, and her generous spirit in the midst of an unfolding tragedy. As I read this engrossing novel I forgot I knew - or thought I knew - the story that inspired it. Sweeney captures both the highs and lows of human behavior with each gripping scene." - Martha Conway
"If there can be beauty in horror, Sweeney has managed it in the writing of this book. Doom hovers on every page - in the sunsets of the western sky, in emaciated cattle, in boots worn down to shreds - yet the human spirit radiantly perseveres in the form of young Ada Weeks, who is determined to find love despite an avalanche of losses and sorrows. Her harrowing physical and psychological journey grips the reader in a tightly woven web of suspense. Impeccably researched, Answer Creek is a triumphant re-telling of a mythic American tragedy." - Laurel Davis Huber
"Ada Weeks is an unforgettable character, authentic and true, created by the deft hands of author Ashley Sweeney. Together they provide a possible answer to the question ‘how might I fare in a time of trial?’ But this is only one question of Answer Creek. Full of distinctive language, fresh images of overland travel, and the challenge of choices, Ada Weeks is a woman to cheer for while we explore our own journeys toward meaning no matter the century nor trail. Be prepared to burn the night oil to discover more." - Jane Kirkpatrick
"With faultlessly authentic period detail and relentless, riveting twists of fate, Answer Creek puts the reader right on the Oregon-California Trail in every sensory and emotional aspect imaginable. This compassionate but utterly realistic telling of the story gently crushes the sensationalized versions and releases something that feels much closer to truth. Ada is hope personified - it takes wing, soars, crashes - and survives." - Ellen Notbohm
"In Answer Creek, Sweeney rescues the story of the Donner Party from its fate as salacious anecdote and delivers a harrowing tale of resilience, folly, loss, and hope." - Mary Volmer
"If there can be beauty in horror, Sweeney has managed it in the writing of this book. Doom hovers on every page - in the sunsets of the western sky, in emaciated cattle, in boots worn down to shreds - yet the human spirit radiantly perseveres in the form of young Ada Weeks, who is determined to find love despite an avalanche of losses and sorrows. Her harrowing physical and psychological journey grips the reader in a tightly woven web of suspense. Impeccably researched, Answer Creek is a triumphant re-telling of a mythic American tragedy." - Laurel Davis Huber
"Ada Weeks is an unforgettable character, authentic and true, created by the deft hands of author Ashley Sweeney. Together they provide a possible answer to the question ‘how might I fare in a time of trial?’ But this is only one question of Answer Creek. Full of distinctive language, fresh images of overland travel, and the challenge of choices, Ada Weeks is a woman to cheer for while we explore our own journeys toward meaning no matter the century nor trail. Be prepared to burn the night oil to discover more." - Jane Kirkpatrick
"With faultlessly authentic period detail and relentless, riveting twists of fate, Answer Creek puts the reader right on the Oregon-California Trail in every sensory and emotional aspect imaginable. This compassionate but utterly realistic telling of the story gently crushes the sensationalized versions and releases something that feels much closer to truth. Ada is hope personified - it takes wing, soars, crashes - and survives." - Ellen Notbohm
"In Answer Creek, Sweeney rescues the story of the Donner Party from its fate as salacious anecdote and delivers a harrowing tale of resilience, folly, loss, and hope." - Mary Volmer
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