Running West [Paperback]

James Houston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

Unjustly banished from Scotland, William Stewart and Thana, a beautiful Dene Indian girl, journey deep into the heart of the unexplored sub-Arctic wilderness, in a story of love and survival set in eighteenth-century Canada. Reprint. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Youthful love between a Scottish mapmaker and the resourceful Chipewyastet Indian woman who guides him through Canada's uncharted terrain west of the Hudson Bay drives this historical adventure. Houston ( The White Dawn ) draws on actual letters and journals of the Hudson's Bay Company to narrate a star-crossed romance in the alternating voices of the two lovers, William Stewart, banished from the Scottish Highlands after a duel, and the maiden Thanadelthur, held captive in a British fort after her family was massacred. Their relationship, while tender and touching, seems more like a charming fantasy than the tragic tale the author obviously intends it to be. Set in the period 1714-1717, this saga vividly evokes the clash of British, French and Indian forces, the virgin beauty and peril of a remote wilderness, the rigors of a killing winter, the colonizers' lust for furs and precious metals. A map and precise line drawings add period flavor.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-- William Stewart, a Scottish clerk banished from his homeland because of a disagreement with the local laird and relieved of his worldly goods by thieves in London, is indentured to the Hudson Bay Company to pay his debts. It is in the Canadian North that William, now clerk to the company governor, meets Thanadelthur, a Dene Indian woman. Hudson Bay Company Governor James Knight sends Thanadelthur and William back to her homeland in the uncharted wilderness to collect fur and to find "yellow metal," and thus begins an adventure and a poignant love story. The harsh reality of living and surviving in the beautiful, frozen North country is told in alternating chapters by William and Thanadelthur, both finely drawn characters. Folklore and customs of the native peoples of the Canadian North are interwoven into the story. --Carol P. Clark, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157566044X
• ISBN-13: 978-1575660448
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,232,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Canadian Historical Adventure, May 25, 2003

By 

William R. Cooper (Smyrna, Delaware United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running West (Mass Market Paperback)

"In the Tradition of Dances With Wolves" claims the cover - well, not exactly. In some ways this novel is better, since it acknowledges that there were/are good and bad whites along with good and bad Indians. However, it does bear the similarity of attempting to tell a tale, based on real people amd events in early 18th century Canada, from both the white and Indian perspectives (every other chapter is narrated by the two main characters, Scottish trader William Stewart and Dene Indian girl Thanadelthur). This adventure and romance has a surprisingly poignant ending and provides entertaining illumination on not only the cultures of both Indians and the English fur traders in the Hudson Bay area but also on a period of Canadian history virtually unknown to Americans.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Canadian trading post history, September 8, 2010

By 

an apt word "apples of gold" (Benton City, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running West (Paperback)

Story concerns an indentured servant who becomes valuable for his map writing and journaling skills, not to mention his ability to absorb Cree and Dene dialects. He meets Thana, a Dene slave girl on the run from a cruel master. Their love for one another benefits the York Trading Company. The main action concerns William's and Thana's long walk west to Dene territory, land that is hoped will yield much gold and furs to the trading post. The ending is made confusing by Houston's alternating the point of view between Thana and William and made even more confusing by rendering Thana's hallucinations during her terminal illness as the real deal.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book With Adventure, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Running West (Paperback)

"Running West" was one of the best books I have everread. The author, James Houston, has a very excellent style ofwriting. It was very creative the way he wrote his chapters. The book is about two different people and their stories are in every other chapter. The story was about a man named William banned from his Scottish homeland that was sent out of Europe to America and a Canaidan Indian girl named Thana whose family and friends were killed, so she is left by herself out in the uncharted wilderness. The two characters meet and fall in love and are running west in search of gold.