"A fascinating picture of frontier Kentucky. . . . The story of Jemima's abduction, an exciting and revealing episode in the history of America's westward expansion, deserves to be retold. To his credit, Pearl resists oversimplifying a history that has been too often presented as a frontier romance, showing us that it is as much about the women, children and Native Americans who played a part in it as the famous men who ensured it would be remembered." -- New York Times Book Review on The Taking of Jemima Boone
"A deliciously intricate and utterly absorbing retelling of the Daniel Boone family saga---and particularly the complex roles played by the Cherokee and Shawnee across Boone's southern Appalachian stamping grounds. The Taking of Jemima Boone adds an intriguing dimension to an issue of keen importance to modern society."
-- New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester
"It seemed Jemima Boone's fate to be taken hostage--if not by Kentucky Indians then by fiction and legend. Even a cousin had a go at her story, in verse. Sensitively and eloquently, writing his way around the silences, Matthew Pearl rescues her at last. Fearlessness seemed to run in the family; Jemima could neither read nor write, yet had an uncanny ability to communicate with her father, conspiring with him from a distance, assisting with his rescue, under gunfire, at close hand. A rousing tale of frontier daring and ingenuity, better than legend on every front."
-- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff, on The Taking of Jemima Boone
"Not only did Matthew Pearl's clear and vivid writing immediately sweep me up in a father's fear, it pulled me into a larger and even more profound story, one that would change the course of three nations--one young, two ancient, all fighting for survival." -- Candice Millard, bestselling author of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, on The Taking of Jemima Boone
