Edith Pope's RIVER IN THE WIND is an historical novel about the Second Seminole War and St. Augustine, her hometown. The protagonist of the novel, Thad Renfro, is the son of the overseer of an orange plantation owned by Judge William King. Thad and Judge King's daughter Medora have grown up together and fallen in love, but their fates, at fifteen, are about to be determined by others. Medora is married off to a Northern businessman, Moncure Lauren, whose ambition is to found the Bank of Florida. Thad is orphaned in a Seminole raid and joins the US Army to conquer the Seminoles and exile them from Florida to Oklahoma.

The selective omniscient narrative stance of the novel, focuses on Thad and Judge King: the two share an intense love for the nature of Florida, a fond if grudging admiration of the Native Americans, a sense of honor and duty, and an adoration for Medora. They are caught in the inexorable gindings of the mills of history. Pope knows her history well; we see the American generals, Scott, Gaines and Jessup, befuddled by Seminole insurgent tactics, as well as the firebrands, Osceola and Coacoochee, untempered by the wiser heads of their fathers and chiefs. Pope has no romantic notions about the glories of war -- and, indeed, the Second Seminole War reminds the modern reader of the unfortunate forays in Vietnam and Iraq of our own times. Such wars engender desolation, wasted lives and disillusionment.

The wonder of this novel is its incredible descriptions of Florida nature -- swamps, groves, forests and shores. William King and Thad Renfro are intimately connected with the landscape and feel it in their bones, but it is Medora who embodies "the unpredictable, the enchanted, the feral" of Florida. ( )