Gambling on Love (Tuckaseegee Chronicles #6)

From Publishers Weekly

“Set in the American colonies in 1750, this is a tale of discovery, acceptance, war, love, and cultural awareness. A realistic historical piece, this novel is fraught with danger and heartbreak, but buoyed by romance and the hope for survival into future generations. A meticulously researched, exhaustive look at the uneasy coexistence of early settlers and native populations, the novel fully immerses the reader in a foreign world. Historical fiction buffs especially will want to know what happens to the MacNeills and the Cherokees in the next installment. The prose is flawless and the characters are robust and believable. Impressive.”


About the TUCKASEEGEE CHRONICLES

Devastated by Scotland’s failed uprising against England in 1745, exiled highland warrior Ruary MacNeill transports his wife Elspeth, two children, and three orphaned nephews to America to operate a trading post and horse-breeding enterprise in the Great Smoky Mountains, the Southern Appalachian heartland of the large and powerful Cherokee Nation.

Set in America’s first frontier during the French and Indian War, the TUCKASEEGEE CHRONICLES (1750-1764) are a long series of short novels, a multigenerational saga following the Scottish MacNeills as they interact with the Cherokee during a time of political upheaval when the Cherokee Nation is at war with other Indian tribes and has become a pawn in the conflict between England and France for control of the Atlantic seaboard.

The MacNeills gradually discover that Cherokee clans are not unlike Scottish clans, both culturally and spiritually, and that friendship, love, and loyalty can cross cultural and racial boundaries.


GAMBLING ON LOVE: Book Six of the Tuckaseegee Chronicles

In Book Six, GAMBLING ON LOVE, Anno Domini 1751-1752, Joe Buck Cheatham and Feeds-the-Wildcats encounter the charms of Cherokee girls Quaytee and Redwing Blackbird in a manner befitting ancient Cherokee legends and traditions, albeit with questionable consequences, while at the same time they are coming of age as warriors during a time of growing conflict between the Cherokee Nation and the English in Charles Town. In the meantime, Mairy MacNeill is struggling with her own coming-of-age as a young woman “lonely in a crowd” at her first Green Corn Celebration but with an unexpected prospect.


About the Author

Betty Cloer Wallace is a tree farmer in Western North Carolina and a former teacher of writing and literature at a North Carolina community college that serves the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the largest concentration of Scottish descendants outside of Scotland. Her British ancestors settled in the Great Smoky Mountains in the 1700s and intermingled with the Cherokee who have populated the region for thousands of years.

A former school district superintendent and principal in North Carolina and Alaska, Wallace spent ten years in Eskimo villages in the Alaskan Arctic—Bering Strait, North Slope, and Northwest Arctic—which greatly influenced her interest in how indigenous populations are impacted by immigrant cultures.