This suspenseful. thoroughly researched, narrative nonfiction book describes the stirring story of the birth of a state-how both Mary and Florida found their way-she as a strong female through her own resolve and Florida through statehood as the nation's 27th state. "Palmetto Pioneers," tells the story of Mary Adeline Walker, an ordinary daughter of a cattleman and a South Carolina low-country child. She follows her family and her heart for the adventure of her lifetime into the wilds of territorial Florida, where she survives an Indian war and Florida's brutal environs. In frontier Florida, the enemy is nature and man, and the ordinary must become extraordinary-or perish.