Steamboat Book

Nearly thirty years after the Civil War, Edward Whitaker is haunted by what emancipation failed to accomplish.

In 1894, he risks nearly everything to build [title removed with contest pending], a seventy-two-foot missionary steamboat equipped with a printing press, chapel, and school. His mission is audacious: carry literacy down the Mississippi, print Bible primers along the way, and teach those once forbidden the written word so they can read God’s Word for themselves.

But the river has little regard for Edward’s plans.

Storms threaten the boat, money disappears, and opposition follows them downstream. Still, Edward refuses to turn back. He believes God called him south, and he will not allow hardship to keep his team from reaching the people they intend to serve.

But the closer Edward gets to Vicksburg, the more the mission demands—from his crew, from the people he has come to help, and from the woman who has sacrificed much to make the journey beside him.

Before the journey is over, Edward must decide how far he is willing to go—and what he is willing to lose—to fulfill the mission God has given him.