A Tea-Dark Bearing

by Janice Kidd

The Adirondack Foothills, 1801. Hugh' s venture to blast open the wilderness is failing. Is it the uncommon wet season, his crew on the verge of mutiny, or a mysterious stranger intent upon sabotage? Desperate to escape their loveless marriage, his wife Georgie is trapped in the unnavigable woods and rivers. As she broods on her troubles, their willful and stout-hearted daughter befriends the stranger, an entity consumed with the landscape and the ghosts of waylaid soldiers of a nearby battlefield. He is willing to trade the secret to keeping black powder dry. But Hugh won' t listen and Georgie is preoccupied with the survival of her small family, and with that of Black Vy, the family cook and a former enslaved woman with whom she has forged a cautious bond. When Black Vy's freedom is again threatened, the two women devise a daring plan of escape through a rugged, untamed wilderness, fleeing the dangerous prejudice of unscrupulous men as well as the stranger that haunts them all.

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2025

Reviews

[Patrick O'Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janice Kidd brings the untamed wilderness of the Adirondack Foothills to life in A Tea-Dark Bearing, a novel as rich and layered as the landscape it inhabits. The novel pulses with tension—between husband and wife, freedom and captivity, the natural world and the men trying to tame it. Kidd’s writing is immersive, her characters vivid, and the story unfolds with a quiet, haunting power. Georgie and Black Vy’s journey is harrowing and deeply human, and the novel lingers long after the final page. An atmospheric, beautifully written historical novel that deserves to be widely read.

[Savanah Weakly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Tea-Dark Bearing is a deep, dark, historical novel that brings the untamed Adirondack Foothills to life. Cast from English aristocracy into the brutal realities of 19th-century frontier America, Georgie faces the struggle between freedom and captivity, nature and those who seek to tame it. With immersive atmosphere, and richly drawn characters, the novel pulses with tension and passion.