In her own footsteps : Flora Ross and her struggle for identity and independence in the colonial west : a novel based on a true story

Summary: "In the summer of 1859, British and American troops nearly went to war over a small island in the Pacific Northwest, each claiming sovereignty over the region in a military standoff that has become known as the "Pig War" of San Juan Island. In the midst of the dispute sat a Hudson's Bay Company farm, where seventeen year-old Flora Ross, the Métis daughter of a prominent company family, nursed the dying wife of a farmworker. The American instigator of the standoff, Paul K. Hubbs, Jr., courted Flora throughout the standoff. They were married as the two nations announced a joint occupation agreement, and their marriage was celebrated in newspapers as a second joint occupation of the island. The marriage did not turn out to be a happy one, however, as Hubbs soon turned abusive and kept a mistress on a neighboring island. To escape, Flora had to overcome the lack of civil divorce laws in the colony of their marriage, the political power of her father-in-law in Washington Territory, and societal prejudices against a young Métis woman struggling to regain her independence and build a career as a nurse. In Her Own Footsteps is written in novel form, but tells the true story of Flora Amelia Ross and her struggle for identity and independence, to the extent surviving documents permit"--Provided by publisher.