But shedding her old life doesn’t come without cost. Forsaking security and an arranged marriage, she enlists frontiersman Jesse Bird to guide her to the Watauga settlement in western North Carolina. In an act of brave defiance, Tamsen Littlejohn escapes the life her harsh stepfather has forced upon her. On the other hand, Jesse, sure of the man he is, will discover the truth about his birth family and the meaning of selfless love.Ĭheck this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.Frontier dangers cannot hold a candle to the risks one woman takes by falling in love. Tamsen will discover the kind of woman she is without the strong influence of her stepfather and possibly discover love along the way. The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn is a tale of discovery. They have no idea the amount of trouble that will follow. Unable to get Tamsen out of his head, Jesse Bird has discovered the cruelty that Tamsen and her mother have had to suffer living with Parrish. Knowing there is no way that she will be safe under her stepfather’s control, Tamsen decides that escape is her only option. Upset by Tamsen’s defiance and further angered by his wife’s disobedience, Parrish commits an unforgivable act. Realizing that Tamsen will not bend to her stepfather’s will, Tamsen’s mother decides to reveal a family secret, one she promised Parrish she would never reveal.

Later that night, Jesse unknowingly halts Tamsen’s flight from her stepfather’s cruel rule. Tamsen believes this act has shown her Kincaid’s true nature and rushes from the table, right into the arms of Cade, a backwoods trapper and cattle drover.Ĭade and his son, Jesse Bird, are caught off guard when the young lady runs into them, and Jesse can’t keep his eyes off her. Then Kincaid backhands his slave just for interrupting them. However, she soon finds herself caught up in conversation with the young man and thinking that this might not be a bad match after all. Sure that Kincaid will turn out to be a younger version of Parrish, Tamsen approaches the meeting reluctantly.

Kincaid has agreed to meet with the family in order to discover whether he and Tamsen will make a good match. Ambrose Kincaid, a twenty-nine year old heir to a Virginia fortune, has been enraptured by the portrait Parrish carries around of his stepdaughter. All that Tamsen Littlejohn has been brought up for, since her mother married Hezekiah Parrish, comes to this single moment in 1787 Morganton, North Carolina.

The pursuit of tamsen littlejohn