Mist-shi-mus

In MIST-SHI-MUS: A NOVEL OF CAPTIVITY, everyone is bound to something. Captive heart. Captive slave. Captive secrets of the past.

In 1860, Englishwoman Jeannie Naughton arrives in the Pacific Northwest. A young widow hurt by scandal not of her own making, she must use a false name to keep her reputation. 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, especially after the tragic death of her little son.
Jeannie stays with a British officer’s family but soon discovers the island supports an unusual community of Hawaiians and Indians. Breed introduces her to his many friends among them in Kanaka Town. When his Hawaiian friend, Kaui Kalama falls ill with small pox 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.
Jeannie loves Breed, but many distrust him for his friendship with the Haida and local Indians. He opposes American smuggler Emmett Krill who traffics native women. When a high born Haida woman is abducted and killed, violence breaks out. When Krill and Breed fight, Breed kills him but Breed himself is critically injured. Friends help Breed escape. Hoping to meet with Breed off-island, Jeannie goes with Breed's friend, Andrew Pierce, to wait. Later Jeannie is told Breed died. Carrying his child, she feels her only choice is to marry Pierce.
Twenty years later, Jeannie receives a note. Breed is alive! Now Jeannie embarks on a journey to find him, unaware she is stirring up an old and dangerous struggle of power and revenge at which she is the heart.