It reads more like a series of vignettes than a coherent story that pulls the reader along. I admit I read the second half much too fast. I thought the descriptions of nature and the wilderness through which they traveled were well done, but it was hard to keep my attention on the story past the halfway point of this book. If you like the parts of DRUMS OF AUTUMN that deal with Native American culture and customs, you'll enjoy these details in INTO THE WILDERNESS, too. I liked the descriptions of life among the Kahn'yen'kehaka. I liked him, but he seemed a little too perfect. Nathaniel seems more of a typical romance-novel hero, tall and strong and handsome, but without the flaws and weaknesses that make Jamie Fraser such an intriguing character. And her attitude toward both the Indians and the black people she encounters seems far too late-20th-century-P.C.

I never got the impression that she thought like someone born and raised in the 18th century.

Elizabeth is nearly as outspoken and stubborn as Claire is, but she is at times far too modern in her attitudes. I liked the main characters, for the most part. The novel follows the adventures of Elizabeth and Nathaniel, as they elope, flee together into the Mohawk lands, and try to stay one step ahead of Nathaniel's arch-rival, Richard Todd. She soon meets and falls in love with Nathaniel Bonner, a white man who was raised by Native Americans. The book tells the story of a twenty-nine-year-old Englishwoman, Elizabeth Middleton, who travels to a remote area of New York State in 1792, to take up residence there with her father and brother.

I've heard many OUTLANDER fans talk about Sara Donati's novel, INTO THE WILDERNESS, and finally decided to read it for myself.

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati