Widow Creek

By Sarah Margolis Pearce

Genre: Historical fiction

Mariah Hardwick Penngrove’s wagon arrives in Remington River, California in 1849. Along the way, she lost a husband but developed a back bone. Nothing was going to stop her from living and breathing ‘the beyond’ described by Meriwether Lewis. She kept her mother’s copy of The Journals of Lewis and Clark close at hand, ever ready with an appropriate quote for inspiration. Once Mariah saw Hasten Peak, snow-capped and dominating the landscape above Remington River, she knew she had found her ‘beyond’.

When she becomes embroiled in a land dispute between the bandit, Pajaro Mendonca, and, Po Fong, Chinatown madam and leader of a notorious tong, Mariah’s notion of the wilderness and untouched horizons is turned upside down. At Widow Creek, she finds that decisions are not so straight-forward and that trust is a shadowy business.

Fast forward to 2015.

Three weather-worn and inscribed boulders are found on a remote hillside below Hasten Peak. A manuscript that Mariah penned about her days at Widow Creek is uncovered during a search for the meaning behind the boulders. What was left unwritten about the remainder of Mariah’s life in Remington River is revealed by a group of historical sleuths. The provenance of the boulders and the legacy left behind pins the past to the present.

About the Author

San Francisco writer, Sarah Margolis Pearce, is the author of the novel, The Promise of Fate. Set in the mountains of Northern California, the story spans a century and is woven around a quartet of Maidu baskets and a collection of characters living in the fictitious town of Remington River. Murder, lost love and a fateful connection to the past make this a story that will haunt the reader. Her love of the region and sense of place makes this a book that resounds with Sarah’s affection and respect for the mountains.

Authors that Sarah’s identifies as influential to her writing include Annie Proulx, Flannery O’Connor, Jack London and Jane Smiley.

A life-long writer, Sarah credits the burgeoning self-publishing movement for providing her motivation to continue working on novels. She enjoys the healthy debate within the publishing industry about the pros and cons of self-publishing, digital media and the future of the book.

Her website:  www.sarahmargolispearce.com

On Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IghQhD

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42180069-widow-creek

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/SFSarahPearce