Thirteen Moons By Charles Frazier

This is by the author of Cold Mountain and although not as marvelous a story, Thirteen Moons is a great historical novel. It's set before the Civil War in North Carolina, and the main character is Will Cooper. It starts when he is a young boy sent to work in a wilderness trading post where he sort of melts into the local indian tribe. He grows up with them and the book is just about his life. He lives to see the Trail of Tears, and the Civil War. He meets John C. Calhoun, President Andrew Jackson, and Davy Crockett. All the while he is in love with Claire but they somehow never stay together. They meet when they are both 12, then have a few year fling in their teen years, and occasional meetings throughout the rest of the book. It is a sad romance, one reviewer said the book is "melancholy". The book is also really pretty, the same as Cold Mountain, just the way the author writes is very pleasant and the descriptions of the country are really great. I recommend it, but if you haven't read Cold Mountain, read that instead :).