CROSSING THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

About the Book

Told through preserved family diaries, Crossing the Continental Divide joins two major 19th century American themes—the moral consequences of chattel slavery and the cultural consequences of settlers going west.

In 1853, newly widowed Ethan Fall leaves Oxford, England, sailing with his two young daughters to Charleston, South Carolina, to begin their new life. When they arrive, Ethan unexpectedly becomes responsible for Sensible Rose, a sixteen-year-old girl of mixed racial parentage. In an effort to remove his daughters and Rose as far away as possible from the South’s “peculiar institution,” the four join a wagon train following the Oregon Trail. As they travel, Crossing the Continental Divide tells the story of their complex and changing relationships, set against the dangers of slavery coupled to the dangers of westward migration.

About the Author

In addition to Falling in Love at the End of the Road, Ronald is the author of the Clementine Camille trilogy of novels: Volume One: An American Romance; Volume Two: An American Memoir; Volume Three: An American Life, all of which are available from bookstores. He published his newest novel, Crossing the Continental Divide: Three American Diaries: 1853-1854, in 2012, available from bookstores or online as an e-book. Ronald’s two volumes of plays, written while he was Writer-in-Residence at the Holocaust Memorial and Resource Center of Central Florida, were published under the titles Rising from the Ashes: Volume One: Beyond the Abyss and Volume Two: The Chronicles of Zion. The two volumes of plays are available from bookstores or online as e-books. At present, Ronald is in the process of writing a new novel, Going Sane: A Serious American Comedy.