WIND OF CHANGE
By Karen Troxel
RFI West Inc - October 2002
ISBN: 1586974203 - Ebook (out in paperback soon)
Romance / Time Travel
Present day / 1838 Trail of Tears

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy a Copy (Amazon link N/A)

Hiawatha Craft is a thirty-five year old ex-army man who is part Cherokee, but not very aware of it. When his car breaks down in a remote town on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, he finds himself first knocked over by a cigar-store Indian; and, as he sorts through some old Indian artifacts in a junk store, he is drawn to an old photograph. Things get even stranger when a tornado suddenly blows up, causing him to get swept up in it. He awakens in the middle of a group of very convincing re-enactors. He then discovers that he has been taken back to 1838 and is traveling with a group of Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. As he gets to know them better and tries to help them, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Valerie Redhook. But he belongs in the twenty-first century, doesn't he?

A few years ago it would have been unthinkable to have a romance novel told through the eyes of a man but this is exactly what "Wind of Change" does. It is a most refreshing and unusual experience too. Hi is a twenty-first century man with modern notions about how the world works and equally modern ideas about women, but few real skills to take back with him that are going to change lives dramatically. This makes for a more realistic read as surely few of us do; he only has his own helpful and well-meaning self to give which is enough for a good story. Valerie seems independent and tireless as she does her best for her family against huge odds. The author paints a convincing (but not too harrowing) picture of what it must have been like for Native Americans to be forced to make this journey. If you have been looking for a romance novel with a difference then this is for you. I can even see it appealing to people who don't normally care for romances.