"Majestic, moving, and layered with beauty and horror, Answer Creek is a bittersweet and satisfying historical novel."--Foreword Review, starred

"The author is a master of vivid descriptions, dragging readers along every wretched mile of the trail, sharing every dashed hope and every dramatic confrontation, with Ada as their guide. Ada is a marvelous creation, twice orphaned and both hopeful and fearful about a new life in California, the promised land....A vivid westward migration tale with an arresting mixture of history and fiction."--Kirkus Reviews

“Ada Weeks is an unforgettable character, authentic and true, created by the deft hands of author Ashley Sweeney….Full of distinctive language, fresh images of overland travel, and the challenge of choices, Ada Weeks is a woman to cheer for while we explore our own journeys toward meaning no matter the century nor trail. Be prepared to burn the night oil to discover more.” —Jane Kirkpatrick, award-winning author of One More River to Cross 

  “In Answer Creek, Sweeney rescues the story of the Donner Party from its fate as salacious anecdote and delivers a harrowing tale of resilience, folly, loss, and hope.”—Mary Volmer, author of Reliance, Illinois 

 “Intimate, engrossing, and personal—this novel is so much more than the story of the Donner Party. Sweeney captures both the highs and lows of human behavior with each gripping scene.”—Martha Conway, author of The Underground River 


“…a triumphant retelling of a mythic American tragedy.” —Laurel Davis Huber, author of Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction winner The Velveteen Daughter 

 “So well researched, one can almost feel the cold of winter and the stifling pain inflicted upon the heart and soul of these courageous pioneers.”—K.S. Jones, award-winning author of Shadow of the Hawk 

 “With faultlessly authentic period detail and relentless, riveting twists of fate, Answer Creek puts the reader right on the Oregon-California Trail in every sensory and emotional aspect imaginable. This compassionate but utterly realistic telling of the story gently crushes the sensationalized versions and releases something that feels much closer to truth. Ada is hope personified—it takes wing, soars, crashes—and survives."—Ellen Notbohm, award-winning author of The River by Starlight