The Beloved Wild

A debut YA American epic and historical adventure from Melissa Ostrom about striking out for your own destiny.

She's not the girl everyone expects her to be.

Harriet Winter is the eldest daughter in a farming family in New Hampshire, 1807. She is expected to help with her younger sisters. To pitch in with the cooking and cleaning. And to marry her neighbor, the farmer Daniel Long. Harriet’s mother sees Daniel as a good match, but Harriet doesn’t want someone else to choose her path—in love or in life.

When Harriet’s brother decides to strike out for the Genesee Valley in Western New York, Harriet decides to go with him—disguised as a boy. Their journey includes sickness, uninvited strangers, and difficult emotional terrain as Harriet sees more of the world, realizes what she wants, and accepts who she’s loved all along.

"A page-turning, delightful debut with equal parts historical adventure and romance." - Ruta Sepetys, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Salt to the Sea

A 2019 Amelia Bloomer Project List Selected Title

"Harriet Submit Winter has no intention of living up to her name and marrying her boring neighbor Daniel Long to meet expectations of gender norms set up in pioneer times. Instead, she disguises herself as Freddy, a boy, and leaves the family farm in New Hampshire with her brother Gideon to forge a new life in the wilderness of western New York. Ostrom effectively contextualizes the discussion of societal limitations imposed upon women within the story's well-drawn historical setting."--Publishers Weekly

"Reminiscent of the works by Laura Ingalls Wilder, this charming novel is an enjoyable reflection on women’s roles, romance, and the power of choice."--School Library Journal

"Ostrom presents a rich, believable novel with a classic feel. ...This is a great recommendation for fans of gutsy female characters like Jo March and Jane Eyre.—VOYA

"The warm romance and witty banter between the well-wrought characters should please plenty of teen readers ...." — Booklist