The Awakening Land: A Novel of the Rio Grande Valley

"The Awakening Land" continues the great, sweeping epic of the early Southwest. The story follows the fortunes of the Apodaca family from Spanish conquest through the late 1800s, as each generation struggles to survive in a harsh and bloody land. Ride with Miguel Apodaca as he deserts, recoiling from the gruesome atrocities of Don Juan de Onate's conquistadors, and meets lovely Summer Grass - an escaped captive girl of the Comanche.Experience the fearsome Pueblo Revolt and its tragic aftermath. Follow the river north again with Mateo and Cipriano Apodaca, as Don Diego de Vargas retakes New Mexico for Spain. In the small settlement of Corrales, meet strange, crippled Quirina Apodaca - and "White Witch" of the Corrales Valley, and later - Gregorio Apodaca, whose strength and courage become legend."The Awakening Land" is also the story of Frenchmen Louis and Julian Bonneau - forced to leave their home in Bordeaux, and flee to America to escape the guillotine for an unspeakable crime. Another fugitive is young Gaetano Perna. Smuggled out of his small village in Sicily under the threat of Mafia vendetta, Gaetano will eventually find himself on the harsh New Mexico frontier where he'll discover love and become a man.

The author, James M. Vesely, was born and raised in Chicago. He and his wife now live in the small New Mexican village of Corrales. Jim has also written "Unlike Any Land You Know" - the story of the "Burma Bridge Busters" - the 490th Bomb Squadron in China-Burma-India during World War II.