North America

[Misfit]

I'll start. My fav's (so far),

Jubilee Trail, Calico Palace and Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow
My Theodosia and The Winthrop Woman, Anya Seton
Oh Kentucky! and Kentucky Home by Betty Layman Receveur (a bit romance oriented)
Western Passage TJ Hansen
Gone with the Wind
Shadowbrook Beverly Swerling
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Robert Lewis Taylor (a Pulitzer Prize winner)

[Divia]

The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent
Mr. Emerson's Wife by Amy Belding Brown
On Agate Hill: A Novel by Lee Smith
Cane River by Lalita Tademy (dont be scared that its an Oprah book )
An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance
Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston

[Leyland]

Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo. I've never read it, but probably will one day. It's a long one at more than 1300 pages and maybe the only novel I might have to read in two or three parts as if they were sequels.

[Margaret]

Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove
Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind

But this is a huge category - I've probably forgotten a lot of old favorites.

[diamondlil]

Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series

Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series.

[MLE (Emily Cotton)]

Some really good western and Native American-themed HF
From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom
Follow the River, same author.
Ride the Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson
These is my Words, the Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy Turner
Blood Brother by Eliott Arnold -- about the Apache Chief Cochise. Hard to find, but worth it.
The Big Sky, Guthrie
YA: Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
The Man who Rode Midnight, can't remember the author
And who could forget Louis L'Amor and his invincible, ever-resourceful Sackett clan?

[Leyland]

Some really good western and Native American-themed HF .... Ride the Wind, Lucia St. Clair Robson

I've read it a couple times and consider it one of the best novels I've read, for as much the extremely interesting story of Cynthia Ann Parker as for the excellent storytelling skills of Lucia St Clair Robson. She gives incredible details to this story set among the native American plains culture as well as giving wonderful care and quality to many of the characters. She makes many of them all personally appealing in their daily lives and I've loved getting into this story. She does give it a realistic vision and I found the same in reading another of her novels based on a true life, Fearless, about Sarah Bowman set in Texas.

[dbrady10@msn.com]

Divia, I see you've read The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent. It just came out, didn't it? It's on my TBR, obviously you liked it as it's on your list. I loved Cane River, have you read her 2nd book, Red River? I have it but haven't read it yet.

[Divia]

I havent read Heretic's Daughter yet. I was throwing it out there as an American book. I have it on hold at the library though

I picked up Red River today becuase it was on a discount stack. I thought about buying it but didn't. I did enjoy Cane River though.

[LCW]

I liked Cane River too but not sure if I want to read any more by that author. I thought the characters were fascinating but I didn't feel like it was a really well rounded novel. Sometimes it just seemed like she was reciting what happened to the characters rather than really telling a story.