Days of Sun and Shadow by India Hayford

Posted June 30, 2026 by Prairie Wife -

“Owl is always with me. Even when my human feet are planted firmly in the ground, and her pale wings shine against the burning blue sky, our hearts beat together.”

This is how the story of Emilie McCain begins… and it takes off, fast-paced and soaring, in a way that made me ignore everything else until I had finished the book. I began reading on a Sunday afternoon, and other than a brief break to sleep, I didn’t stop reading until I finished “Days of Sun and Shadow” the following morning!

This is India Hayford’s second novel, and I was honestly a bit scared to read it. We read her debut novel, “The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree” for our Prairie Wife Book Club in April of last year, and I loved it!  Then I had the opportunity to meet India in person at an event where I was a speaker, and I absolutely fangirled. India and I have since become friends, and I felt the pressure when I cracked open her latest novel, “Days of Sun and Shadow.” I wanted to love the book, but knew I would have to be honest if I didn’t.

I needn’t have worried.

I fell in love with ALL of India’s characters…well, other than the ones that were decidedly and purposefully awful. Emilie is born amid tragedy, and her mother never stops blaming her for her losses. As she grows up in the wilds of Alabama in the early 1800’s, the love of her Granny and father and her passion for horses become her saving grace. As she gets older, her family changes, and they make the move to Washington, Arkansas. As new characters are introduced, India allows us to see the tale told from their perspectives, which wonderfully rounds out Emilie’s narrative. I was captivated by the character of Madeleine, whose tale is brutal yet authentic to what I imagine life was like for our young nation’s mixed-race citizens at the time. Emilie deals with her own heartbreak, but as angry as it made me, I feel that her treatment is accurate to life as a woman living in the mid-1800’s.

India’s writing is lyrical and smooth, carrying you swiftly along and immersing you completely in her tale. She tells the stories of strong women with grit and grace. Interwoven throughout the novel is Emilie’s generational gift of the sight from Owl, which makes the story all the more captivating.

This novel does cover some incredibly sensitive topics like physical abuse, infant loss, and rape, so I wouldn’t recommend it for our younger readers.

I know that India is currently working on another novel, and after reading “Days of Sun and Shadow,” I am even more excited to read it when it’s released.

Here’s what the publisher had to say:

Alabama, 1813: In the midst of the battle and massacre at Fort Mims, a baby is born. It’s a portentous beginning for Emilie McCain, who has inherited the Sight—visions that come in dreams guided by an owl. Owl is Emilie’s steadfast companion, a welcome balance to her mother’s neglect. Along with the Sight, Emilie possesses an innate talent for communicating with horses. In an era when a woman legally belongs to her husband, such gifts may be the only things that are hers to keep.

The family makes a perilous move to Arkansas Territory, where Emilie becomes a master horse trainer and leatherworker. For all her skill with horses, Emilie sometimes fails to see the dark truth about the people she encounters. Other dangers, even when predicted, may be impossible to defend against—yellow fever, greed, vengeance, and the unforgiving land itself.

Through love, marriage, heartache, and hardship, Emilie gains strength and resilience. After years of avoiding emotional entanglements, she meets a man who presents her with a horse to be trained and an offer of friendship she could sorely use. But with his arrival come other tests of her will and her judgement. Finally, a shocking revelation inspires an act beyond her imagining—and may set her free to find the place she truly belongs . . .

Find “Days of Sun and Shadow” at your local bookstore or purchase it online by using this link.

Categories: Book Reviews, Reviews

Tags: , Book Reviews, days of sun and shadow, female authors, Historical Fiction, india hayford, magical realism, wyoming authors