The Undaunted
One of the greatest things about my job is that I often get to read and work on some of our most anticipated books long in advance of their release dates. And one of my most exciting projects of the year has just gone to press and will be out the first week of August. Gerald N. Lund is one of those amazing authors who can interweave true historical events with fictional characters to create a spellbinding story that actually teaches something at the same time. Thousands of people said The Work and the Glory got them fascinated with Church history for the first time. For me, Fire of the Covenant had that same effect: I knew the story of the handcart pioneers (or thought I did), but it became REAL to me when I experienced it through the eyes of Lund s characters. And now, after a seven-year hiatus, he s done it again in The Undaunted. The subject this time is even less familiar, but in some ways that makes the story even more compelling. Before I read this book, I knew a tiny bit about the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneer expedition. I didn t know it was a projected six-week trip that turned into a six-month saga of determination and sacrifice, with a good handful of miracles sprinkled in. I didn t stop to consider that people who had already given up everything, some of them multiple times, were asked to do it again, leaving comfortable homes and businesses to travel to a desolate corner of the territory and stand as a buffer between civilization and lawlessness. I didn t understand that our pioneer heritage extends far beyond the trek across the plains; it has been carried out again and again in the lives of people who have laid everything they have and are on the altar of the Lord so that His kingdom can go forward. This is what The Undaunted is to me: so much more than a good story, although it is that. It is so much more than an engaging and heart-clenching read, although it s that, too. It is a testimony to me of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the courageous Saints who laid its foundations. It is our story. --Emily Watts, editor, Deseret Book Company