One young family faces the adventure of a lifetime in Sara Elizabeth Smith's sprawling historical drama, Sanctuary on Saint Simons Island.
The year is 1736, and Matthew and Emily Adam decide to move with their two young boys, Richard and William, from London to the wild lands of America.
Led by the charismatic James E. Oglethorpe, the eager group of settlers soon finds a home on St. Simons Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia.
As Matthew and Emily attempt to carve out a new life for themselves in the midst of the Georgian outback, they soon befriend the Johnson family: Peter, a skilled carpenter, his wife, who becomes the children's beloved teacher, and their daughter, Jane.
The two families forge a close bond as they face obstacles unique to their colony, the southernmost post of the British empire. Its position places it, and them, directly in the path of brutal Spanish enemies entrenched in St. Augustine, Florida, and Cuba.
As time marches on and a new generation blossoms into adulthood, the road ahead remains fraught with peril as they discover the courage and sacrifice it takes to tame a wilderness.
About the Author: Sara Elizabeth Smith earned a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan College before returning to school at Georgia State University to study piano pedagogy.
After teaching piano for over twenty years, Smith decided to act on her love of historical fiction and write her debut novel, Sanctuary on Saint Simons Island.
She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
