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Reviewed by Jennifer Senick for Readers' Favorite
Saving Marietta: Journey to Freedom by Joy E. Held opens with a violent attack on the Applewood family in Kentucky, where young Romney and his little sister, Sarah Jane, are abducted from their home and separated. Years later, Romney—now living among the Delawares and known as Dark Moon Walker—gains his freedom and sets out searching for his sister. He only has a few vague memories to help him along the way, and a rumor about a blue-eyed girl called Quiet Skies that he suspects is her. At the same time, Dr. Molly Hilliard decides to leave her medical apprenticeship in Baltimore to join a wagon train, hoping to reach Marietta, where her family lives. She’s also intent on practicing medicine there. How will these two lives become intertwined? Will they reunite with the family members they’ve been looking for, or will they be doomed to a life without them?
Saving Marietta by Joy E. Held pulled me in because I really enjoy reading about the frontier. I also found myself really invested in both Romney and Molly from early on. I admire how Dr. Hilliard is both stubborn and grounded in her work. She has convictions and takes risks because of them. Romney’s relentless need to find Sarah Jane gave the book a steady undercurrent of tension that never really let up. The writing is straightforward and sprinkled with just enough historical details, like wagon trains, frontier medicine, and river travel, to make the setting feel real. I especially appreciated that the story balances hardship, danger, and quiet moments of tenderness, so when hope shows up, it feels earned rather than easy. Readers who enjoy historical fiction with strong, determined characters will find this engaging journey rewarding. It will immerse them in a vividly drawn time and place as they follow people who keep fighting for each other, page after page. I loved this story from beginning to end.
