Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

I really enjoyed reading Cold Mountain which brought a lot of fame to writer Charles Frazier. Thirteen Moons is what is called his “sophomore effort.” This book is written in the first person and follows the life of Will Cooper, a 90-year-old survivor of the North Carolina frontier. The author loosely based his main character on a real person in North Carolina’s history. Will is orphaned at a young age and sent off to a remote post next to the Cherokee nation to tend a general store. For seven years he looks after the store for its owner. When the owner dies, Will inherits the store, and becomes a prosperous merchant. He then teaches himself the law by reading law books late into the night. Will also becomes an honorary white chief of the Cherokee nation, using his title to help defend the Indians from being raped of their land and culture. In the end he must bear witness to the Trail of Tears when the Cherokees were removed from their land. Giving in to his wanderlust, he travels around the country and during the Civil War organizes a troupe of Indians to fight for the Confederacy. Later in his career he becomes a state senator. Throughout his life, Will pines for his one true love, Claire, a girl he won in a card game. The last scenes find Will sitting on his back porch taking pot shots at the passing trains. This book is truly for history buffs. It is long, but richly written, and in the end worth the time spent.