2024 WINNER of the NAIWE Award for Genre (Historical Fiction)   In one of history's great untold stories,  Red Clay Running Waters weaves a tapestry of the turbulent Antebellum era and the fate of Native Americans through the little-known life of John Ridge, a Cherokee man dedicated to his people, and his white wife, Sarah Northrop, a woman forfeiting everything to join him in defending his homeland. In 1818, John Ridge, promising son of a Cherokee chief, leaves his native land in the south for an education in the New England, believing in the missionaries promises of salvation and equality. His ability to navigate both worlds - Red and White - far exceeds his teacher's expectations. While there, he finds an unsanctioned love that transcends prejudice and social conventions, but the union outrages the Calvinist community. Wiser on the chasm between professed beliefs and behavior, John and Sarah return to his nation, instilled with visions of the better world they can help build. In an independent Cherokee Nation, John burns to use what he has learned to defend his people's rights in support of their growing advancement, with their own written language, laws, and newspaper.  In her new home, Sarah finds friendship and purpose with her family and the growing communities of schools and prosperous plantations. The Ridges' aspirations appear within reach, but then unanticipated actions from the neighboring state of Georgia raise tensions between the Cherokee, the Southern states, and the federal government under Andrew Jackson. With John taking the mantle of leadership forged with his father, Major Ridge, the family find themselves pulled into the crossfire of a divided country on the brink with a civil war, and threatening to drag America into a moral and Constitutional crisis. Trapped in a cycle of oppression and betrayal, the Ridge's abiding love for their nation unite them in purpose, forcing them to risk everything and testing the limits of their individual commitment to forestall a Cherokee diaspora. In a crucible of politics, racism, and religion. Red Clay Running Waters is a timely saga about the nature of love, loyalty, and sacrifice in one family's search for justice that leads the reader to a haunting and moving conclusion.   AWA Hawthrone Prize for Fiction - Finalist - Feathered Quill Book Awards - Finalist Historical Fiction - American Writing Awards - Finalist Historical Fiction - CIBA Laramie Awards (Americana Fiction) - Finalist - Eric Hoffer Da Vinci Eye Award (cover design) - Finalist   "An immersive and engaging story . . . a consistently enjoyable literary experience." - Kirkus Review ". . . the creation of something sweeping yet intimate, historically accurate yet reflective of current issues, and, through it all, written with precision, grace and lyrical elegance. This is a splendid, splendid work." Greg Fields - Author of Through the Waters and the Wild "An extraordinary achievement. Red Clay, Running Waters is an old-fashioned novel in the best sense: rich in its portraiture and heartbreakingly true to history." Jodi Daynard - Author of The Midwife's Revolt "The true-life saga of the Ridge family--the most dramatic, tragic, as yet untold story of America's conflict with first nation's people. . . I don't know a more powerful American story that reveals more of who we are, and how far we must travel to heal from our troubled past." David Marion Wilkerson - Author of Oblivions Altar "...A fabulous example of the [Historical Fiction] genre - very well-written and really interesting [with] well-developed characters who drew me in . . . ... an engaging story that held my attention throughout...I loved it!" -  Feathered Quill Book Awards judges A superb work of historical fiction that immerses the reader . . . Poetic and vivid . . . an intensely emotional and personal narrative. . . . Red Clay, Running Waters by Leslie K. Simmons is a superb work of historical fiction that immerses the reader in the violent and transformative years leading up to the Trail of Tears. This wide yet intimate novel portrays the dramatic and sad true story of John Ridge, a Cherokee chieftain, and his white wife, Sarah Northrop Ridge, as they navigate love, politics, and treachery during one of the darkest chapters of American history. Simmons' poetic and vivid style captivates from the first few sentences. The first few words of the book take readers back to 1824, when the youthful and aspirational John Ridge is ready to provide for his people after returning home from his study in New England. He is committed to demonstrating, with Sarah by his side, that the Cherokee Nation can remain an autonomous and sovereign people in spite of the escalating hostilities between Native American tribes and the US government. The plot soon turns into an engrossing, agonizing, and motivational tale. Simmons is a brilliant storyteller who skillfully blends historical veracity with an intensely emo