2010 Best Books of Indiana - Fiction

Winner to be announced on Friday, October 15, 2010

Jamie Carie, Wind Dancer

Carie captures a beautiful love story, with enduring characters and a strong plot entwined among the American Revolution frontier.  Isabelle Renoir, a free spirit who loves dancing in the ethereal moonlight, and mysterious, rugged Samuel Holt, are captured by Indians, forcing them to join together to fight deep spiritual forces.  Their rugged survival instincts combine to aid them in their quest to conquer their rugged existence.  The Midwest setting, complete with actual familiar towns, makes this a nostalgic romance well worth the read.

Melanie Dobson, Love finds you in Liberty Indiana

Dobson tells an engrossing story, which keeps the reader turning the pages though plot twists, vivid characterizations and nostalgic descriptions of 19th century Indiana.  The book details the story of several stops on the Underground Railroad, Quaker abolitionists and the slaves who were helped to reach Canada and freedom, concentrating on a sincere, strong and independent Quaker woman.  The research strengthens the story of community conflict and personal redemption.

Larry D. Sweazy, The Rattlesnake Season

Sweazy immerses readers in the adventures of Josiah Wolfe, a former Texas Ranger who is lured back to his previous lifestyle after the deaths of his wife and daughters. This carefully crafted and perfectly paced novel hooks readers with Wolfe's dramatic personal conflict: an old friend and comrade is now an outlaw whom Wolfe must bring to justice. Excellent historical details and rich characterization of Wolfe's struggle to fulfill his duty make The Rattlesnake Season an excellent start to a new Western series.