Orphaned at the age of 9 in Stockholm, Sweden, Jacob is taken by an ill-tempered uncle on a merchant ship bound for London. He survives a shipwreck en route that leaves him homeless and, once again, abandoned. This time on the streets of a Dickensian London. Unable to speak English, he struggles, often stealing to survive.
In desperation, he lies about his age to sign up with the Hudson's Bay Fur Company as an indentured laborer. Certainly, no place for a 12-year-old boy with limited skills in a brutal physical world where death is often.
Wilderness of the Heart is based on the astonishing true story of Jacob Fahlstrom who finds himself alone in the vast, untamed wilderness of North America. A place splintered by Indian conflict and warring fur companies. Danger exists in all directions. Caught in this volatile world he must learn and adapt quickly if he is to survive. But impulsiveness finds him deep in the woods, lost and gravely injured. He is rescued by Ojibwe hunters who take this bizarre oddity back to the tribe. They have never seen blond hair and blue eyes, believing him to be something supernatural. Something to fear. Cruelty and beatings ensue until Thunder Bear, a respected warrior, reluctantly steps in to help.
Wilderness of the Heart is the journey of a boy, not only fighting to survive but learning to become a man who can take care of himself, for he is truly alone in this place where death lurks in the shadow of towering pines.