|
|
Home | About BHB | Our Authors | Author Events | Order |
|
||
by Naida West
 See large cover |
River of Red GoldISBN: 0965348725 US$18.49 624 pages; trade paper; endnotes; maps of ranchos and early settlements in California Sequel of Eye of the Bear. Based on a true story, this is the California Gold Rush as you never imagined. The fates of Indian Mary, Elitha Donner (survivor of her father’s wagon-train disaster), and Pedro Valdez (a proud Californio) entwine in a drama of passion and power on the ranch now owned by the author. 1844-1853. |
Prologue
HOWCHIA SPEAKS:
Once I was Eagle Woman. Now I am an oak tree.
When I walked these paths, the nights came often and life in the village hurled past like the river in the time of early flowers. When I died I should have gone to the happy land. But I looked back, unable to turn away from the home place I loved. Thus, my spirit lingers. But I did not choose to inhabit a being so long-lived, or stand overlooking the dancehouse — a hollow in the earth now, overgrown with high grass — where the outpourings of our human hearts once rent the sky and the mysteries of the universe were felt so deeply. Through the dirt of a millennium my roots suckle the rotted acorn husks and bones of my people. My trunk is sculpted and broad, and even while the earth scorches in the sun, my tap root, far below, drinks from a pool of wet sand as eternal as the river.
“...a fascinating, gripping story that is firmly rooted in historical research yet reads with the power of good fiction.”
— Journal of Western American Literature
“Exceptional in the genre of California historical fiction... West paints a world of nature and civilization, love and violence, spirituality and bigotry on the California frontier.”
— Journal of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
“California’s history has been presented in an illustrious haze of land conquered and people tamed... These notions and more are challenged in River of Red Gold, a compelling saga.”
— California Geology
More reviews...
| Home | About BHB | Our Authors | Author Events | Order |
|
Bridge House Books, P.O. Box 809, Rancho Murieta, CA 95683 Telephone (916) 985-7411 ~~ Fax (916) 354-2788 |
Copyright © Bridge House Books. All rights reserved. Privacy