Garden of Eve — Wheeler Pounds

Fantastic read Hard to tell where fact leaves off and fiction takes over. This first novel by Wheeler Pounds has it all: great plot, mystery, adventure, suspense, romance, and historical fact. Pounds draws on his own hiking and camping adventures in the Bankhead National Forest and its ever present danger of a large rattlesnake population and of his Cherokee Indian family heritage. Set in the present, it goes back in time and tells the story of a Cherokee couple hiding out in the Sipsey Canyon (old Warrior Mountains) area of the Forest, during the time of the Cherokees' removal to Oklahoma. Eve and buck hide out in the almost impenetrable Sipsey Canon to evade capture by federal troops and being forced onto the Trail of Tears. The main sub-plot tells the story of Eve, who was taught to read and write by a Methodist preacher whose territory was northwest Alabama and who was sympathetic to the plight of the native Americans. The discovery of Eve's journal leads the main character, Raleigh, to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Eve and Buck and their descendants. Raleigh's research into the Cherokees in Alabama and Georgia at that time leads into a great romance and deepens the mystery of Eve and Buck. It is so refreshing to read a novel that has no profanity, yet it has a romantic story without being X-rated. Not only is this a fascinating work of fiction, it is historically accurate and teaches so much about the Cherokee history and culture. I highly recommend this to readers age 10 through adult.