Winner of the Spur Award: A Pennsylvania farm boy embarks on the adventure of a lifetime in this gripping saga of the wilds far beyond the American frontier and the men and women who explored it

In 1822, Sam Morgan dreams of following in the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition. When he steals away on a flatboat headed west, Sam’s epic journey begins. Along the way, he meets a cast of unforgettable characters, including Capt. William Clark himself and fur traders Jedediah Smith and Irish Tom Fitzpatrick, real-life mountain men well on their way to becoming American legends.

The Indian tribes living in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains have much to teach Sam. In the Ree villages, he comes face-to-face with treachery and death. And while among the Crows, he falls in love with a woman named Meadowlark. From the Bois Brulés, Snakes, and Pawnees, he learns native crafts, lore, and mysticism. But Sam’s best teacher is hard-won experience. On a grueling seven-hundred-mile trek, alone and on foot, across the Great Plains to Fort Atkinson on the Missouri River, he endures a devastating prairie fire and comes to grips with the price of survival.

Awarded the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers prize for best novel, So Wild a Dream is a vivid portrait of the brave souls who sought their destiny in the American wilderness.