• Age: 12 to 15
• Grade: 6 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 15

Angus and his family are sent from Scotland in 1813 on a voyage to start a new life in the strange and cruel new land of western Canada.

In 1813, cleared out from their beloved Scottish Highlands, 15-year-old Angus, his mother, father, small brother Rabbie, and 100 others sail for Canada to seek a better life with assistance from Lord Selkirk. Angus, his family, and their friends the O’Hares, with their aloof, unsmiling daughter Maggie, share the hardships and terror of the sea voyage only to be dumped onto the shore of a forbidding land. There they spend a brutal winter.

With bitter determination and help from the Native population, the settlers manage to reach the Red River. They are eager to finally begin their new life but meet obstacles even more dangerous when they are caught up in a struggle between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company, powerful fur-trading rivals. Despite this hard transition, Angus falls in love with this new land and takes his place beside the brave men who risk their lives to protect it.

B.J. Bayle's Battle Cry at Batoche, her bestselling novel about the North-West Rebellion in 1885, was a Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, while Perilous Passage, her novel about explorer and mapmaker David Thompson, was nominated for a 2009 Red Maple Award and was a Children's Book Centre Best Book. She lives in Cochrane, Alberta, near Calgary.

B.J. Bayle's profile page

“…this is an exciting story with a sympathetic hero that will be enjoyed by many.”

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“Bayle brings to life the colonists' voyage across the Atlantic and into Hudson Bay.”

CM Magazine

"A vivid portrait of the determination and strength of Manitoba's earliest settlers... fast-paced and engaging... a nuanced portrayal of historical events."

“However, by keeping the spotlight on Angus, who manages to be part of every adventure, Bayle maintains the suspense and makes this an entertaining and instructive read.”

Winnipeg Free Press