Riders of the Purple Sage - Softcover

Grey, Zane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1500564796 ISBN 13: 9781500564797

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

“Where I was raised a woman's word was law. I ain't quite outgrowed that yet.”

‘Riders of the Purple Sage’ tells the story of Jane Withersteen and her battle to overcome her persecution by members of her polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church, a leader of which, Elder Tull, wants to marry her. Withersteen is supported by a number of Gentile friends, including Bern Venters and Lassiter, a famous gunman and killer of Mormons. Unlike many Western novels, which are often straightforward and stylized morality tales, ‘Riders’ is a long novel with a complex plot that develops in many threads. The story is set in the cañon country of southern Utah in 1871.

Throughout most of the novel Jane Withersteen struggles with her "blindness" in seeing the evil nature of her church and its leaders, trying to keep both Venters and Lassiter from killing her adversaries, who are slowly ruining her. Through the adoption of a child, Fay, she abandons her false beliefs and discovers her true love. A second plot strand tells of Venters and his escape to the wilderness with a girl named Bess, "the rustler's girl," whom he has accidentally shot. While caring for her, Venters falls in love with the girl, and together they escape to the East, while Lassiter, Fay, and Jane, pursued by both Mormons and rustlers, escape into a paradise-like valley by toppling a giant balancing rock, forever closing off the only way in or out.

‘The Rainbow Trail’, a sequel to ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’ that reveals the fate of Jane and Lassiter and their adopted daughter, was published in 1915. Both novels are notable for their protagonists' strong opposition to Mormon polygamy, but in ‘Rainbow Trail’ this theme is treated more explicitly. The plots of both books revolve around the victimization of women in the Mormon culture: events in ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’ are centered on the struggle of a Mormon woman who sacrifices her wealth and social status to avoid becoming a junior wife of the head of the local church, while ‘Rainbow Trail’ contrasts the fanatical older Mormons with the rising generation of Mormon women who will not tolerate polygamy and Mormon men who will not seek it.

About this title

From the Publisher

This book was created with some errors. Phoenix Rider and Arc Manor wish to apologize for these errors. A corrected edition will be released soon

Any purchaser of the book may do any one of the following:

1. Return the book with a copy of their receipt to us at the address below. We will refund the purchase cost (up to $4.99) as well as shipping costs (up to $4.50) for the book. The original purchase may have been from any vendor.

2. Just mail us the back cover (making sure that the bar-code from the back cover is included), and we will refund the buyer $5.99. No reciept is required for this method of obtaining the refund.

This offer will stay in place till March 31, 2009. Please note that only books issued with ISBN 978-1-60450-269-5 (the edition of the book with the errors) are eligible for this offer.

Make sure you let us know the name and address of the refund recipient. Mail your refund request with the required material to:

Refunds PP/PR Arc Manor P. O. Box 10339 Rockville, MD 20849

From the Publisher

7 1.5-hour cassettes

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1500564796
• ISBN 13: 9781500564797
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 229