Book
Discover Mother Lee, a historical novel of survival, family, and the American frontier.
Coming Soon
From a song to a story spanning generations.
Randy Lee Riviere’s forthcoming historical novel, Mother Lee, expands the story behind his song of the same name on Farmhand Blues.
Set against the turbulent years of approximately 1820–1865, the novel follows two girls raised in northern Virginia who overcome seemingly impossible challenges to reach the wilds of Florida. Their journey unfolds through a country wrestling with slavery, the displacement of Native Americans, political conflict, and the relentless approach of Civil War.
Drawing on Randy’s deep interest in American history, Mother Lee explores the people and forces that shaped everyday life: agriculture, family, the landscape, and the difficulty of traveling through a country with few roads. The Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and the presidency of Andrew Jackson form part of the historical background as the characters struggle to find their place in a changing nation.
Their story eventually reaches the Civil War, when Mother Lee sends her children into the heart of the conflict.
Like the song that inspired it, Mother Lee brings history into focus through individual lives—their friendships, losses, determination, and will to survive.
The novel is currently in progress.