Syrie

By: Dena Smallwood

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In 1840s New England, Syrie Marie Adams Boone lives a contented, quiet life. Surrounded by family and married to her best friend, Jedidiah, she lives in a neat cottage, tending to her chickens, milk cows and garden. She enjoys her neighbors, church on Sunday, their orderly village and regular visits with parents and siblings. When Jedidiah tells her that neighbors are selling out and moving to Oregon, Syrie is excited to expand their farm and income for the family she is anxious to start.

Jedidiah has a different plan - telling her he wants to move to Oregon as well. So begins a life-altering series of events that Syrie is forced to endure. She will face the physical dangers of buffalo stampedes, flash floods, and deadly river crossings. She will struggle with a lack of clean water, little food, heat, choking dust and countless other rigors of daily life in a covered wagon. She will mourn the loss of family members, bury friends and acquaintances, adopt an orphan girl and give birth. She will fall into a deep depression that threatens not only her life, but the life of her unborn child.

Along the Oregon Trail, Syrie will evolve into the woman she was always meant to be. She will stand to defend her family. She will become self-sufficient and self-confident. She will make the decisions she needs to make to keep her family safe. She will create a new life for herself and her children in a wilderness devoid of order or peace.

But can she be this new woman, protecting herself and her small family, and also be open to a new partnership? …To love? Can she find happiness in the West with a man and a people so very different from any she has ever known?