Marianson

On Mackinac Island in July 1812, a young Canadian voyageur slips away from a British landing party and runs for his life. A candle shining through rock leads him into a hidden cave, where Marianson Bruelle, a widow searching for her missing cow, has fallen asleep. She offers food and shelter while the danger outside keeps the strangers together. Their uneasy refuge becomes the setting for an attachment whose force surprises her.

Mary Hartwell Catherwood sets this short historical romance among wooded cliffs, lake shores and the sudden uncertainties of war. Marianson's practical knowledge of the island matters as much as the young man's skill in the woods, especially when he begins to consider escape by boat. The story gives close attention to her shifting feelings, from protective tenderness to the fear of losing him. Readers interested in intimate wartime fiction will find public events narrowed to the choices of two people sharing a precarious shelter.