Spirit of the Moon - Softcover

Murray, Earl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812550935 ISBN 13: 9780812550931

Publisher: Forge Books, 1998

Synopsis

Elizabeth, a young Nez Perce woman, accompanies her father and a company of Hudson's Bay trappers from her tribal lands in the northwest to the unknown Coyotero--the parched desert country of the Gila River. It is a dangerous enterprise, as the little expedition to the southern desert must battle the elements as well as hostile Mojaves, Utes, and Apaches, and a band of cutthroat raiders led by the renegade Etienne LaGrange.

For Elizabeth, called Spirit of the Moon by her people, the trek summons up strengths unknown to her. She learns to survive in a hostile land against forces of man and nature. Her otherworldly spirit is also called to task as she must come to grips with her betrothal to James Condon, the weak son of a wealthy British trader, and her love for the footloose adventurer Baker McLoed.

Earl Murray, among the most honored of writers of the Western frontier, combines his mountain and Indian lore expertise and skilled storytelling in the gripping tale of the great Southwest.

About this title

About the Author:

Earl Murray once worked in botany and natural resource management. He is the author of thirty-five novels and nonfiction books that deal with the American West. His novel, Song of Wovoka, was a finalist for the 1992 Western Writers of America Spur Award for historical fiction. He lives with his wife, Victoria, in northern Colorado.

From Publishers Weekly:

Relying upon the actual journal kept by a Nez Perce woman on an 1841 fur expedition into the far Southwest, Murray (Ghosts of the Old West) weaves a gripping tale of greed, betrayal and courage. Spirit of the Moon, the novel's narrator and main character, is being taken by her adopted French-Canadian and Mohawk father, Coquin, from her home into the unfamiliar Coyotero, the parched Apache land of the Southwest. Coquin, who works for the Hudson Bay Company, intends to have his daughter married to James Condon, the pampered scion of a rich British trader. Two trappers, Baker McLeod and a freed black slave named Jerome, join the band traveling to the unspoiled and beaver-rich Coyotero, and the life of Spirit of the Moon, who is also called Elizabeth, is changed forever. The trappers draw death to the band in the form of a Sioux raiding party, and of the cutthroat Etienne LaGrange, who aims to have the travelers' furs for himself. Complicating matters further, the betrothed Spirit of the Moon falls in love with the rugged Baker, which leads to a denouement that rings more like a sequel-promising pause than a conclusion. Murray skillfully weaves period detail and Native lore to create an engrossing tale featuring an uncommon heroine.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0812550935
• ISBN 13: 9780812550931
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304