Mist-shi-mus

Table of Contents

In 1860, Englishwoman Jeannie Naughton arrives in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a young son and secrets. Under the protection of a caring uncle she hopes to start a new life under a new name. When she meets Jonas Breed on an island under joint US and British military occupation, she senses a kindred spirit. Captured as a youth and held as a slave –a mist-shi-mus -by the Haida Indians, he uses his hard experience to move on and create a new life in the islands. Jeannie wants this for herself.

Jeannie stays with Gladyse Park, the wife of the Royal Marine surgeon and soon discovers a cordial relationship between the two military camps. But the island also supports an unusual community of Hawaiian and Coast Salish Indian workers. Breed introduces her to his many friends among them in Kanaka Town. When small pox strikes his Hawaiian friend Kaui Kalama, Jeannie volunteers to care for him. Her actions endear her to the settlement.. Restless in the English society at the British encampment, she is drawn to the free life Breed offers.

I've always wanted to write about Hawaiians in the Pacific NW and the story of the joint occupation of the San Juan Island by the American Army under George Pickett and the royal marines of the British Empire. The novel is complete but undergoing a big revision as I tighten and redirect a plot point. Appreciate any feedback. Though I write historical fiction that often has a love story in it, Mist-shi-mus is the first one I intened to be a romance. Its explortation of captivity both in the physical sense and bonds created by prejudice, social morales of a particular time or events beyond the control of an innocent person is a major theme.. 

I hope you enjoy it