Visions of Teaoga

The year is 1790 and Queen Esther, a notorious American Indian matriarch, travels under cover to observe a U.S.-Iroquois summit at the ancient Teaoga treaty grounds. Will she be able to pass on her wisdom – and warnings – to the Indian villagers before the hostile settlers discover her in their midst? Will troubled native girl Sisketung awaken to Esther’s truths and see how wrong-headed the brash settler girl Sarah was?

Moving two centuries forward, restless tweener Maddy Winter also visits Teaoga, now a quiet riverfront town on the Pennsylvania-New York border. She tunes in to the region’s dramatic lost history and soon encounters spirits in the wind. As she gains in wisdom, Maddy longs to take on Esther’s mantle of the “peace woman,” but will she find the courage to do right in her own life?

Drawing richly from the historical record, Visions of Teaoga captures a world in upheaval. Readers sit at a native story circle and learn of the tensions and treachery besetting the Eastern frontier. As Maddy and her modern-day compatriots enter the story, they ponder how our history was recorded and by whom. The book is a perfect companion for middle-school history classes, with discussion questions and other supplemental materials provided on the author’s website, www.jimremsen.com.