Through the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival for the American frontier

“A perfect pairing of skill and material…. Engrossing…. A deft and ambitious storyteller.” – Mary Roach, New York Times Publication Review

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on an improved future, lay out western from Illinois with her fresh husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven weeks later, after joining a celebration of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the initial heavy snows of the season closed the move ahead of them. In early Dec, starving and eager, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

Within this gripping narrative, New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light using one of the most legendary occasions in American background. Following every unpleasant footstep of Sarah’s journey using the Donner Party, Brown produces an account both spellbinding and richly educational.