It was a time of drastic change for the Cherokee and for the frontier. The white settlers approached steadily, their homesites encroaching more and more every year upon the hunting grounds and towns of the Cherokee. Misunderstandings often led to violence, and violence often led to war -- war against an unconquerable foe.
Against this backdrop emerges the character of Nancy Ward, Beloved Woman of her tribe. She attained her special rank as a teen when she rallied the Cherokee warriors to a victory over the Creek, but she chose to follow the path of peace -- a path that often pitted her against her famous warrior cousin, Dragging Canoe.
The legends and stories about Nancy Ward come brilliantly to life in this beautiful and moving novel. Woven into the story are Cherokee myths, shamanistic rituals, and ceremonial events, presenting the reader with a rich tapestry of the Cherokee world of the eighteenth century.
Beloved Mother is a well researched book that pays tribute to a remarkable woman and a remarkable people.
Charlotte Jane Ellington was first introduced to the stories of the Cherokee as a child while at the Trail of Tears State Park. She was compelled to write a fictionalize account of Nancy Ward's life after reading Pat Alderman's Nancy Ward/Dragging Canoe.
Ellington recreates the life of Cherokee heroine Nancy Ward (1738-1822) in this mild-mannered historical novel. Ward led a remarkable life during a turbulent period in Cherokee history. The niece of Attakullakulla, the great ``peace chief'' of her people, and the cousin of Dragging Canoe, one of the greatest Cherokee warriors, she was catapulted into prominence when, during the Battle of Taliwa, a border skirmish with the tribe's Creek enemies, she seized the gun of her fallen husband and rallied the Cherokees to victory. For her bravery, Ward (who was called ``Wild Rose'' as a youth) was given the epithet ``Ghigau,'' or ``Beloved Woman,'' and allowed to sit on the Cherokee councils. She became respected by whites and Indians alike. Remarried to a white trader (hence the surname ``Ward''; ``Nancy'' was the name white traders gave her), she counseled her people to accept the ways of the whites--but she also saw the great Cherokee lands dismembered by greedy white settlers. A few years after her death, the tribe was removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Here, Ward's story is told through the eyes of a fictional daughter, Dancing Leaf, whom Ward adopts after the girl is orphaned. Drawing on the known facts of Ward's life, Ellington produces a brisk read, credibly filling in the gaps with imaginative fiction. Her approach and prose are a bit stilted and simplistic, however, and the book might better serve young adults than its intended, older readership. (July) Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information.
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