Gone Beaver

Genre: Historical Fiction
AUTHOR: Gil Schriber

Sometimes a man just has to follow his heart. John Tucker was such a man. After having lost his immediate family to the scourge of cholera he was passed along from one orphanage to another. After three years of this he decided to escape and head west into the mountains to find his Uncle Jack. Uncle Jack was a Mountain Man, the tales of whom John had heard since he was old enough to remember. This was where John Tucker felt his heart was leading. He would do what it took to escape the kind of life he had come to know and be free to do and be what he wanted. Along the way he learns love and makes lifelong friendships. But does he find that which he truly seeks?

In “Gone Beaver” Gil Schriber crafts a tale that is fast moving and full of adventure; the kind of adventure the reader can truly feel along with the characters. Mr. Schriber truly loves the atmosphere in which this tale is set. He shows this through the unapologetic way he presents this story. There is no sense of what could have or should have been. This is a trap into which it is all too easy to fall in the present day. It is simply a well- written saga of the men and women who blazed the trail that so many have followed.

This reviewer is also greatly appreciative that Mr. Schriber skillfully points out the differences between the tribes of Native Americans that make appearances in the story. Any reader should come away with the knowledge that the Blackfeet and the Shoshone were as distinct from one another as Germans are from Italians. The only fictions in this book are the characters. The types of people, the events such as the Rendezvous (and the happenings depicted), and the environment are all starkly real.

This love of subject and the accuracy of the setting make this book well worth the read and the passing along. This reviewer sincerely hopes that Mr. Schriber will continue the story of John Tucker. As the West changes with time and with the westward migration of so many people, the way of life of the Mountain Man would be over all too soon.

Highly Recommended by Reviewer: John Helman, Allbooks Review.www.allbookreviews.com

Title: Gone Beaver
Author: Gil Schriber
Publisher: Publish America
ISBN: 978-1-60749-469-0
Pages: 242
Price: $24.95 US
Nov. 2009