" A Tuft of Thistledown is a haunting and beautifully told historical novel... a story that resonates long after the final page...a must-read for fans of historical fiction, particularly those interested in untold Indigenous stories, complex character dynamics, and morally layered plots...Highly recommended... " Review Tales (June 2025) "A Tuft of Thistledown by L.Z. Rose is a poetic and emotionally charged historical novel..... and I would definitely recommend i t." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Readers' Favorite (June 2025) "A Tuft of Thistledown is a rare and exquisite novel- at once sweeping in scope and intimate in feeling....A must-read for fans of richly layered, character-driven historic narratives with heart and haunting beauty." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ AND GOLDEN QUILL Award AND recommend for the BookViral Crimson Quill .- - BookViral (April 2025) A Tuft of Thistledown is an experience that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page . - Literary Titan (March 2025)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ AND GOLD award winning book - Literary Titan book awards, highest winning category. "A Tuft Of Thistledown" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Western & Historical Fiction collections. -Midwest Book Review. (March 2025) Described as a ' heartrending' and 'i ncredible ' story by Regina McLemore, author of Cherokee Clay and Patricia Morris author of Days of our lives. Two lives—once bound by a love that couldn't be had—find themselves caught up in the western expansion of America. Horse Song, a Cherokee woman of mixed blood, escaped from the Trail of Tears, lives hidden with her family in the remote refuge of Oak Long Leaf. John Lucas Jr., a wealthy landowner and political insider, presses ever closer—ruthless in ambition, yet haunted by what he once was. When their worlds collide, the will to survive spirals forth the question; in the undying consequences of choice, can the soul ever return from what it didn't want to become? 5 star Readersfavorite award A Tuft of Thistledown by L.Z. Rose is a poetic and emotionally charged historical novel set in the aftermath of the Trail of Tears, a time when survival required both grit and grace. Horse Song, a Cherokee woman who lives in secrecy, is driven by the need to protect her family and preserve her dignity in a world designed to erase it. Her life collides once again with that of John Lucas Jr., a settler with a complicated past and buried feelings for the woman he once loved. As political tensions flare and westward expansion encroaches on what remains of Horse Song's world, their story becomes a meditation on loss, belonging, and the soul's capacity for forgiveness. Author L.Z. Rose has a bold style and a sense of exactly how to pitch the more raw emotions of this story. The author does not shy away from the horrors of displacement. Yet the novel's heart lies in its characters' deep emotional truths and the fragile beauty of what's left. The lyrical prose carries the emotional weight of history with quiet power and immense empathy, without it being an obvious feature in the story itself. The dialogue is wonderfully apt for the period, but what struck me most about the novel was its tenderness and the way it honors both the brutality of the historical moment and the resilience of the human spirit. Horse Song's voice is unforgettable, at once wounded and wise, while John's internal reckoning offers a compelling counterpoint. Overall, A Tuft of Thistledown is a stunning, sorrowful, and ultimately hopeful novel that illuminates a forgotten chapter of American history with grace and emotional clarity, and I would definitely recommend it. The BookViral ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review: L Z Rose's A Tuft of Thistledown is a rare and exquisite novel—at once sweeping in scope and intimate in feeling. Set in the wake of the Trail of Tears, it threads together disparate timelines, deep emotional undercurrents, and a cast of unforgettable characters, centred around the haunting bond between two people once joined by childhood, now separated by politics, power, and history. Horse Song, a Cherokee woman of mixed blood trying to protect her community from looming annihilation, lives in the hidden settlement of Oak Long Leaf with her young son Two and her husband Runabout. Her days are bound to the rhythms of the land, her people's sacred traditions, and a quiet but fierce determination to survive what history is pressing upon them. Stalking ever closer is John Lucas Jr., a wealthy landowner, political insider, and cold-blooded killer, whose childhood connection with Horse Song forms the novel's aching emotional core. Their bond, though buried beneath decades of betrayal and violence, continues to ripple through their actions—especially his. Though he walks with calculated cruelty, the faint hope that Lucas Jr. might find redemption crackles through the pages like static. It's this tension—between what he is, and what he once was—that keeps the narrative buzzing with urgency and dread. Told