The Shining Mountains
Angus McDonald flees Scotland circa 1838 to escape a poaching charge. He travels to his great-uncle’s fur trading post on the Columbia River, in an area claimed by both Great Britain and the United States. Working for the Hudson’s Bay Company, he enjoys the wild and beautiful country. He is comfortable with both the French trappers and the indigenous people he meets. Soon he marries Catherine Baptiste (Kitalah), a Nez Perce-French-Iroquois girl with high connections among the tribes. They spend the rest of their lives together and have many children.
The old, free life starts fading away as the beaver are over-trapped and the buffalo herds shrink. A border is established between Canada and the U.S. at the forty-ninth parallel. Eventually it becomes impossible for a Hudson’s Bay Company trader to operate in the United States. Westward expansion changes things forever for the McDonalds and for the native people. The story offers much sadness, but some of the resolution leaves hope for the future.
Alix Christie is Angus McDonald’s great-great-great niece. A journalist for thirty years and the author of Gutenberg’s Apprentice, Christie currently reviews books and arts for The Economist.
I loved this book not only because it’s an action-packed historical family saga based on the truth, but also because it says important things about multiculturalism, family ties, family continuity, and the evils of prejudice and avarice. It is well-researched. The ten pages of acknowledgments and source notes are almost as interesting as the story itself. I’ve been combing the internet to learn more about the real-life characters portrayed so colorfully in the book, and to learn more about the Native American languages and way of life so richly portrayed by the author. Highly recommended.
