Under a Blackberry Moon

August 12, 2013
Miller won a RITA for The Measure of Katie Calloway, and this book features the same characters and setting: the post-Civil War North Woods of Michigan. Moon Song, a young Chippewa woman with a new baby, has found sustenance and friendship among a group of white loggers in Bay City. When she decides to return to her people, Isaac Ross, known as Skypilot from his days as a preacher in pre-Civil War Virginia, accompanies her on the journey. An accident along the way transforms their passage into a struggle for survival. A variety of complications thicken the plot, even as Moon Song and Skypilot slowly realize their mutual attraction. Miller presents a complex backstory for Moon Song that ties itself up too prettily. Her historical research generates a lot of eddies in the narrative flow, and some of those side developments and details slow the main plot engine—the growing relationship between the two principal characters. Fans of Jane Kirkpatrick will enjoy Miller’s historical recreation. Agent: MacGregor Literary.