Shadows on the Land: A Novel of the Rio Grande Valley (Corrales Valley Trilogy)

Shadows on the Land is the third and final volume of the Corrales Valley Trilogy. The story resumes near the turn of the twentieth century, and follows the final tragedy of the Bonneau brothers and the coming of age of Gaetano Perna. After being wounded in the trenches of France, young James Parrish returns home to marry lovely Emily MacKenzie. They move a small herd onto Corrales land and put down roots as the first Anglos in the village. With the help of her husbands grizzled cowhands, Emily learns the ranching business. In the 20s and 30s, bootlegging and racial hatred impact upon the people of the village. Little Rueben, the lame son of Amos Apodaca is helped by the infamous Al Capone, while Gaetano Pernas son, Santo, runs a foul of the ruthless Chicago gangster. The Parrish ranch is the scene of murderous vengeance as the Ku Klux Klan spread their message of hate and fear throughout the Southwest. Finally, there is the shock of Pearl Harbor. Young friends Joe Apodaca and Holt Parrish find themselves swept up in the horror of the Bataan Death March, while Holts younger brother, Lee, pilots a B-25 over the jungles of Burma, and crippled Rueben is an awed eyewitness to the dawn of the nuclear age in the desert wastes of Alamagordo.

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.