A Man of Two Countries
Set on the northern plains frontier of the 1870s, this novel follows Philip Danvers, a reserved young Englishman who enlists in the newly formed North West Mounted Police. His service carries him through the rough trading country between Fort Benton in Montana and Fort Macleod across the Canadian line, a world of whisky runners, trappers, and soldiers left over from the Whoop-Up trade. Danvers rises to a junior officer’s rank and becomes secretly engaged to Eva Thornhill, a major’s daughter he first meets on a river steamer. When his father dies and the family fortune collapses, Eva breaks off the engagement and marries a wealthier friend. Danvers resigns his commission and turns to earning a living at Fort Benton so he can support his sister. Alice Harriman writes about duty, divided loyalty, and the pull of two homelands.
