Steps to the Sun

It is early 1800s England and seven-year-old Joseph Godfrey is shouldering much more responsibility than most children his age. As if being left in charge of the house and his younger sister is not enough, Joseph must also endure physical abuse from his drunken father. One night after a beating renders him unconscious, Joseph decides to run away. After leaving his sister with a neighbor, Joseph heads toward the docks, slips onto a whaling ship, and hides in a blubber barrel. Now a stowaway with no other plan than to escape his dreadful past, Joseph is horrified when he is soon discovered. After he is taken to the ship's kindly captain who agrees to let him stay aboard, Joseph grows, matures, and learns what it is like to be part of a family. Some twenty-five years later when a tragic event pushes Joseph and his friend, George, to leave the ship while in New York Harbor, Joseph begins yet another adventure that takes him across the American frontier to the Rocky Mountains. Steps to the Sun retraces the steps of an English boy who escapes his father's wrath and begins a remarkable coming-of-age journey on a ship and beyond as he discovers love, blessings, and most importantly, himself. "A must read for anyone interested in the expansion and settling of the American frontier ..." -Carol Astle, descendant