• Tailored publicity campaign through Caitlin Hamilton Marketing and Publicity to include national and regional print and social media outreach. • Large print run (5,000). • Launch party in Truckee, California (near Donner Memorial State Park). • Extensive regional marketing and book tours to Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and East Coast. • Targeted mailings/contact with professional networks/bloggers. • Promotions to Oregon/California Trail museums and organizations. • Readings at multiple public libraries in Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona. • Niche marketing to Hedgebrook, Women Fiction Writers Association, Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Story Circle Network. • Marketing through website (www.ashleysweeneyauthor.com). • Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. • Exposure through personal college alumni associations at Wheaton College, Norton, Mass.; Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.; and City University of Seattle, Seattle, Wash. • Availability for book clubs worldwide through Skype and FaceTime.

From the award-winning author of Eliza Waite comes a gripping tale of adventure and survival based on the true story of the ill-fated Donner Party on their 2,200-mile trek on the Oregon–California Trail from 1846 to ’47.

Nineteen-year-old Ada Weeks confronts danger and calamity along the hazard-filled journey to California. After a fateful decision that delays the overlanders more than a month, she—along with eighty-one other members of the Donner Party—finds herself stranded at Truckee Lake on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, stuck there for the entirety of a despairing, blizzard-filled winter. Forced to eat shoe leather and blankets to survive, will Ada be able to battle the elements—and her own demons—as she envisions a new life in California?

Researched with impeccable detail and filled with imagery as wide as the western prairie, Answer Creek blends history and hearsay in an unforgettable story of challenging the limits of human endurance and experiencing the triumphant power of love.