Some truths run deeper than blood. Some choices rewrite who we are.
In 1830, the hills of northern Georgia shimmer with the promise of gold—but beneath that glimmer lies a deeper vein of greed, injustice, and betrayal.
Sixteen-year-old Mattie-Rae Ellison arrives from the parlors of Richmond to the raw edges of a mining camp, traveling with her stern uncle and younger brother, Sam. But the land beneath their wagon wheels is already contested. Soldiers march with quiet purpose. Miners carve deeper into Cherokee territory. And the murmur of forced removal grows louder by the day.
Then Mattie-Rae meets Hiawassee—a proud Cherokee girl whose mother’s art preserves a culture under siege. Through her, Mattie-Rae glimpses a world richer than any gold vein, and begins to question the truths she’s been raised to believe.
As visions stir and loyalties fray, Mattie-Rae is pulled between the identity she was born into and the one awakening within her. With injustice rising and danger closing in, she must decide what kind of girl she’ll become—and how far she’s willing to go for what’s right.
Set against the looming tragedy of the Indian Removal Act, Cry, the Cherokee is a luminous coming-of-age novel about friendship, courage, and the quiet rebellion of choosing truth over comfort—even when history is against you.
