Olivia, Mourning

Olivia wants the 80 acres in far off Michigan that her father left to whichever of his offspring stakes a claim. As Olivia says, "I'm sprung off him just as much as Avis or Tobey."
The problem: she's seventeen, female, and it's 1841.

Her childhood friend Mourning Free knows how to work a farm and Olivia has complete trust in him.The problem: he's the orphaned son of runaway slaves and reluctant to travel and work with a white girl. He especially fears the slave catchers who patrol the free states, hunting fugitive slaves.

Not without qualms, they set off together. All goes well, despite the drudgery of survival in an isolated log cabin. Incapable of acknowledging her feelings for Mourning, Olivia thinks her biggest problem is her unrequited romantic interest in their young, single neighbor.

Then her world falls apart.

Strong-willed, vulnerable, and compassionate, Olivia is a compelling protagonist on a journey to find a way to do the right thing in a world in which so much is wrong.