Book excerpt: The Spirit of the North is a story of a young couple and their tale of survival in the Yukon in 1898. Johnathan travels north to Dawson City in Canada’s Yukon Territory after striking it rich during the California Gold rush. With his newfound money, he purchases a cabin in the wilderness equipped for fur trapping. Taking an Indigenous woman as his bride, Johnathan and Shining Star’s tale of love and survival begins. The harsh realities of life in the wilderness are expressed through this descriptive story involving new family and friends. It is a story about nature and man’s fight to survive, a wilderness adventure sure to spark the imagination of the reader and leave an unforgettable imprint in the minds of the curious who would like to imagine a life like this of their own. Readers will get lost in the life of a trapper as the story of Johnathan and Shining Star unfolds. It is a family story of a hard life where love matters most. Theirs is a life lived in an inhospitable climate, a land welcoming only the strong in spirit.