After losing two mothers by the age of ten, Matilda is shuffled from one family to another-some cruel, and some kind. Heartbreak and hardships follow her from Washington City to Leesburg, Georgetown, and Baltimore in the early 1800s. In each new place, she endures ill treatment while building the skills to support herself. She starts her own businesses, attends strict schools, nurses children through deadly malaria, and conquers a harsh apprenticeship. After a scandal puts her on the brink of starvation, she returns to the capital to open her own millinery shop. But promises of terrestrial paradise lure her to an experimental city on the edge of the frontier, where she meets a handsome young doctor on her first day in town. A thousand miles from everything familiar, Matilda gambles her possessions, her reputation, and her life-all for the chance to find love and her own home at last.

In this highly accurate historical novel, the young Republic springs to life as never before. Based on the true story of Matilda Greentree Price, Matilda's Eden follows a resilient girl's journey to adulthood in early nineteenth-century America. Culminating in the semicentennial year of 1826, Matilda's pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness will inspire a new generation as the USA celebrates America250.