By Covenant and Cannon Fire
In 1844 Denmark, Mikkel S rensen has built a quiet life around his family, his forge, and the Lutheran faith of his homeland. His wife, Ane, still carries the grief of losses that once nearly broke her, though time has softened the sharpest edges of those wounds. Mikkel carries a promise of his own. At his mother's deathbed, he vowed to remain Lutheran and never be led away by foolish religions. Then a letter arrives from Ane's cousin in America with an extraordinary invitation: Come to Zion. A prophet has been called, the heavens are not closed, and on the banks of the Mississippi stands Nauvoo, the City Beautiful. Ane cannot easily dismiss the words. Mikkel would prefer that she did.
In 1845, the S rensens cross an ocean to America, forming unexpected friendships along the way before arriving in Nauvoo, Illinois, a hot, muggy city on the banks of the Mississippi. Among immigrants, craftsmen, believers, and families gathered from across the world, Mikkel finds purpose at his forge while Ane searches for answers to questions that began half a world away. They watch the temple rise toward completion and make a home among a people preparing for an uncertain future. Then, in February 1846, the exodus begins. Thousands cross the frozen and frigid Mississippi and turn west, leaving Nauvoo behind. The temple is completed and dedicated that spring, even as the city empties. Yet not everyone can leave. The poor, the sick, and the lame remain behind, along with those trying to help them find a way out.
By September, armed mobs descend upon what remains of Nauvoo, driving toward the city with cannon and gunfire in a final effort to force out those who remain. Mikkel takes his place beside his new community and fights to defend a faith he does not yet fully believe, because he has come to believe in the people, the families, and what they sacrificed to build. As violence closes around them, the S rensens must decide what they are willing to lose for one another and what it means to stand for something before knowing exactly where you stand. By Covenant and Cannon Fire, the first novel in the Forged in Faith Saga, weaves fictional lives through the real gathering, exodus, and little-remembered Battle of Nauvoo, a story of enduring grief, unexpected friendship, promises made to the dead, and a family whose search for Zion will test far more than their faith.
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