No Resting Place is a story about Texas, Indians and the Trail of Tears. Humphrey tells the story with nothing glossed over or romanticized. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s hard to believe that such cruel events took place.

Having deep roots in Texas and an ancestor who fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, I was especially interested in what Humphrey had to say about the battle and what happened afterwards. Humphrey manages to link both the Battle of San Jacinto and the Trail of Tears by the men who were involved in both. Sam Houston, who was sympathetic to the Indians, was not in office at the time it took place.

The story begins in Texas during the centennial year of 1936 and preparations were under way for the San Jacinto Day celebration. The 8th grade schoolboys were to reenact the battle. One boy, who just happened to draw the part of playing Mirabeau B. Lamar, decided to trade with another boy who was playing a Mexican. Upon hearing this, his father realizes it is time to share their family story. It’s much more than a story--it’s their legacy, their family history, meant to be passed to each generation and never forgotten.

Told by his great great grandson, Amos Ferguson’s journey to Texas is brought to life. Amos, the son of a prosperous Georgia family whose father was a doctor, was also of mixed blood. In 1838, all Indians, even those with a drop of Indian blood, were required to relocate to specified Indian Territory.

Amos, with pale skin and blue eyes, was one of the thousands who walked the Trail of Tears. Along the way, his mother and his grandparents were some of the many who died.

This was not an easy read, mostly due to the writing style and the tough subject matter, but once I got deeper into the story, it became more interesting and I didn’t notice the writing style quite so much.

Many thanks to Net-Galley and Open Road Integrated Media for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this story because I had read William Humphrey’s Home from the Hill, brilliant Southern fiction that was a contender for the National Book Award, and I couldn’t imagine letting anything written by this author pass me by. Thanks go to Net Galley and Open Road Media for the DRC, which I received free in exchange for this honest review. The book will be re-released digitally February 17, 2017.

Humphrey tells this story like no one else. The Trail of Tears is one of the most heinous crimes any government has wrought upon its aboriginal peoples, a shameless land grab that stole all of the lands belonging to Cherokees and several other tribes of the Southeastern USA. It’s a story that has to be told by someone; those that have American Indian roots may have access to oral history, but for Anglos like me, if it isn’t written down, future generations may not know about it. And by telling it as if it were historical fiction, Humphrey is able to add dialogue and make it more accessible. That said, the reader will need to bring strong literacy skills to this novel. Humphrey’s fiction is always hyper-literate, all the more so in this case because he meticulously researched it. It is the last thing he wrote, a genuine labor of love, and it shows.

That said, nobody can make this real-life event a happy one, and nobody should. It’s brutal. I was about a quarter of the way in, reading in tiny bites in order to make the reading more bearable, when I began to regret having committed to reading and reviewing it. In the end, however, I am glad I did read it, because I learned a lot of new things about the various tribes and although Humphrey’s narrative isn’t enjoyable to read because of the subject matter, he does it more eloquently and in more conscientious detail than anyone else that I’ve read. I say this having taught a unit on the Trail of Tears for a number of years; I am not an expert on this part of American history, but I also didn’t come to it without prior knowledge.

It’s a story that will break your heart—and if you already know the basics, it will do so all over again—but it’s also a story everyone should know. Like the Holocaust, it’s a part of history whose recounting must not be permitted to pass from our knowledge. As for me, I read more than one book at a time, and I found this was less likely to leave me feeling depressed if I alternated it with lighter material. It is likely to be of special interest to those of Cherokee descent and also to Texans, whose forefather Sam Houston is featured here.

The writing style may seem peculiar to younger readers because it is written in a formal style not often used anymore, but there is no denying the word-smithery that makes this cruel event come alive on the page. Highly recommended to those with the literary skills and stamina required to pursue it.