Follow the Stars Home by Diane C. McPhail

A momentous adventure story based in truth full of uncharted territory and danger in untested waters. An enthusiastic steamship inventor and his family undertake the voyage of a lifetime as they embark on the maiden voyage of their steamship on the mighty Mississippi the full length ending in New Orleans in 1811. Lydia Roosevelt is very pregnant and along with their toddler daughter make this journey with unwavering faith that her husband's ship will make the voyage showing the world what is possible and wowing investors and travelers along the way. This journey would have been arduous for anyone but they weathered hostile people, waterfalls, earthquakes and countless other dangers while Lydia remained at her husband's side. This is an adventure story with a rugged determined woman at its center. Diane C. McPhail does an admirable job balancing the extreme danger with the joy of discovering what was just around the bend and experiencing it with the ones you love at your side. If Mark Twain were a woman this is the story they would have penned. ​  4 stars