The year is 1812 and Mark Greenhow, a young Quaker, leaves his small community in northern England to embark upon a life changing journey. His sister Rachel, a missionary travelling in Canada, is lost and presumed dead somewhere in the uncharted wilderness - and Mark is compelled to go and search for her.
What follows is a beautifully evocative and gripping account of Mark's odyssey and his travels with the 'voyageurs' - the men who canoe the immense Canadian fur trade route.
Elphinstone has written a novel of unquestionable historical veracity that also deals with the timeless themes of war, love and the bonds that tie us together.