Soul of the Border: A Novel

In this exhilarating coming-of-age tale set in the late 19th century, a daring young woman braves the wilds of the mountainous Austrian-Italian border—and the dangerous men who conspired with her missing father to smuggle tobacco—in order to save her family.

Jole de Boer is just fifteen years old the first time she accompanies her father—a tobacco grower named Augusto—as he smuggles his product across the Italian border into Austria. She knows the dangers of the treacherous high mountain passes—border guards, brigands, wild animals, ferocious weather—but she is proud that her father has asked her to join him. After all, without the extra money Augusto’s smuggling brings in, their family would starve.

But when Augusto mysteriously disappears during one of his trips, Jole must retrace the route he took to both find a buyer for her family’s tobacco—and the truth behind her father’s disappearance.

An epic tale of revenge, corruption, and salvation, The Soul of the Border is an unforgettable journey into the wild.