Editorial Reviews

 

The Review Tales Review:

A Tuft of Thistledown is a haunting and beautifully told historical novel that delves into the emotional aftermath of the Trail of Tears, exploring themes of love, betrayal, cultural survival, and the weight of hidden motives. Told with deep sensitivity and reverence for the Cherokee people and their legacy, this is a story that resonates long after the final page.

At the heart of the novel is the complicated relationship between John Lucas Jnr., a man torn between duty and conscience, and Horse Song, a Cherokee woman living in hiding east of the Mississippi. Their shared past is slowly revealed through the interwoven story of their English mothers, adding layers of emotional depth to their present-day choices. When Lucas is sent to find remaining Cherokee people, he is forced to confront not just his mission, but the girl he once loved and the unresolved truths that still bind them.

Horse Song is a character of immense strength and quiet resolve. Her belief in Quallatown as a place of hope for her people stands in stark contrast to the fear and hesitation around her. The tension builds as John Lucas Jnr. offers his plantation as a refuge—an offer that splits the community between cautious hope and well-earned distrust. The novel does a remarkable job of portraying the complexity of trust, especially in the wake of unimaginable betrayal and loss.

The suspense deepens when Horse Song’s young son, Two, disappears in search of a missing horse, and a cascade of revelations follows. The escape of a Cherokee prisoner leads to a critical moment where Horse Song learns the truth about who John Lucas Jnr. really is now—and what his offer may truly cost them all.

What sets this book apart is its emotional honesty. The story doesn’t shy away from the pain, injustice, and moral ambiguity that marked this era. Instead, it explores them with dignity, giving voice to those often overlooked in traditional Western or historical narratives. The prose is vivid, lyrical, and immersive, painting a landscape that feels both beautiful and bruised by history.

For a debut, this novel is remarkably polished and heartfelt. The fact that the author remains anonymous only adds to its mystique—there’s a humility in the storytelling that lets the characters and the history speak for themselves.

A Tuft of Thistledown is a must-read for fans of historical fiction, particularly those interested in untold Indigenous stories, complex character dynamics, and morally layered plots. It offers not just a gripping narrative but an emotional reckoning with a chapter of American history that still echoes today.

Highly recommended—and we sincerely hope this is only the beginning of many more stories from this promising author.

Written by Jeyran Main

 

The Readers' Favorite Review:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

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 across braided timelines, Rose crafts a story that is deeply spiritual, richly symbolic, and rooted in Cherokee cosmology without ever feeling like myth-making. The writing is reverent and immersive, flowing with the cadence of oral tradition. Golden horses marked with crescent moons, ancestral dreams, and spirits of the land lend the story an otherworldly texture that never drifts from its emotional realism.

The prose in A Tuft of Thistledown is superb. It’s delicate without being fragile, fierce without being loud. L Z Rose has an uncanny gift for writing what’s felt but unsaid. The language reads like it was meant to be heard aloud—in firelight, in prayer, in the quiet between breaths.

At its heart, this is not just a novel about genocide or resistance—it’s a story of love turned ghost, and the slow, sorrowful unravelling of what might have been. What makes it so haunting is that John Lucas Jr. is not merely a villain—he is a boy who once held Horse Song’s hand beneath the sun, and now walks in darkness. You want to hate him. And yet… some small part of you hopes he might turn around.

That’s the brilliance of L Z Rose. Readers are never allowed to forget what has been lost, or what might still be saved. But perhaps the novel’s most searing moments come in the closing chapters—sections so graphic, so viscerally unflinching in their portrayal of brutality, that they feel like raw nerve endings exposed to the air. Rose writes these scenes with such emotional precision and restraint that their impact lands like a silent scream. They are tragic, yes—but not just in content. The tragedy is also in the cost: what is lost, broken, and deformed in those moments of violence echoes far beyond the pages. These chapters do not exist for shock—they exist to expose the depths of man’s greed, and the irreparable cost of taking what was never his to claim.

A Tuft of Thistledown is an unreservedly recommended Golden Quill read.

 

The Literary Titan Review:

A Tuft of Thistledown is a gripping historical novel that plunges deep into the brutal realities of the Trail of Tears. Set in 1839, the story follows a harrowing clash of cultures, where violence, survival, and the unyielding will to endure take center stage. Through raw and vivid storytelling, the book presents the perspectives of both the Cherokee people fighting to preserve their way of life and the white men determined to erase them. The novel weaves together historical accuracy and emotional intensity, capturing the pain of forced removal and the complex motivations behind acts of cruelty and resistance. What struck me most about this book was its unflinching portrayal of human suffering. The opening scene alone is enough to make your stomach turn; a one-eyed Cherokee man, bound and tortured, refusing to break. The descriptions are visceral, the emotions sharp as knives. It’s not just the violence that gets under your skin, though. It’s the way the characters grapple with their choices. The blacksmith, for example, torn between obedience and conscience, sneaks a bottle of whiskey to the dying man, only to later realize the man couldn't even drink it. That moment, small but devastating, is where the book shines. It makes you feel the weight of inaction, of complicity. Beyond the gut-wrenching pain, the novel’s pacing keeps you on edge. The sections with the Cherokee people offer a striking contrast to the brutal interrogations and raids. Scenes with Horse Song and Runabout, especially when she sees the white man at the eagles’ clearing, are filled with tension, but they also carry a quiet beauty. The descriptions of their hidden village, the careful collection of mulberries, and the intimate moments between families remind us of what’s at stake. And just when you start feeling safe, the book rips that away. The moment the children run screaming into the council house, yelling about white men, your heart stops right along with Horse Song’s. One of the most intriguing elements of the book is John Lucas Jr., a character you want to hate but can’t entirely dismiss. He is methodical, cruel, but also strangely haunted. The way he follows the golden foal, chasing echoes of a past he doesn’t fully understand, adds a layer of depth to his character. He is not a villain in the mustache-twirling sense but he is something worse. He is a man who sees himself as rational, as doing what needs to be done, and that makes him terrifying. His realization that the foal carries a crescent moon marking, just like a horse from his past, hints at a connection to the people he is hunting. That moment lingers, making you wonder how much of him is still human and how much has been lost to cruelty. I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates historical fiction that doesn’t hold back. If you are looking for a comfortable read, this isn’t it. The writing is sharp, the themes are heavy, and the emotions hit hard. A Tuft of Thistledown is an experience that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Literary Titan 5star

 

The Midwest Book Review:

A deftly crafted historical novel set in the American West as the backdrop to the clash between Native Americans and the every increasing forces of the Whites for how the land should be governed and who had the right to govern it, "A Tuft Of Thistledown" is an original, inherently fascinating and emotionally engaging action adventure from start to finish. Showcasing the author's distinctive, effective, and reader engaging storytelling skills, "A Tuft Of Thistledown" is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library Western & Historical Fiction collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that this paperback edition from Caturro Publishing is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.79).


Jim Cox Midwest Book Review