Items related to The Second Vendetta
Not again. In this suspense-filled thriller of a California historical novel, set in 1910 San Francisco and the Sierra Nevada mountains, we find Andy Maxwell completing the two-years-long job of helping his family recover from a crippling vendetta attempt. In 1908, a vengeful marauder nearly killed his mother, burned their Sierra Nevada ranch house, and exhumed some long-buried family secrets—including the fact that Andy’s father was black. At last, Andy thinks, he can return to University of California and pursue his history doctorate in peace. Not so. First of all, it turns out that the brigand who started all the trouble, the one Andy thought he’d Shanghaied into oblivion, didn’t stay exiled. Michael Yellow Squirrel is back for another try at eliminating every last Maxwell on earth. Furthermore, it turns out they don’t want a miscegenated mongrel in the Ph.D. program at the “Harvard of the West,” as the University of California likes to be known. Just when he’s enlisted the eminent San Francisco journalist, Ambrose Bierce, to help him attack that problem, the matter of the election intrudes. Reform gubernatorial candidate Hiram Johnson wants him to run for the California legislature and help foil the railroad barons. And then there are the women. The debutante beauty and the Arapaho princess. So, how is Andy Maxwell, going to deal with all these quandaries? The Second Vendetta answers that question and many more with a tale-telling style that pulls readers into this thriller of a California history saga and doesn’t let them go till they’ve turned the last page, wishing there were more yet to turn. Advance reviews Carl Brush's first published novel, The Second Vendetta, is a historical thriller that takes place in the years building up to WW1. It delves into the human condition while evoking the rich color, thick weave and deft prose of a natural storyteller. - Spencer Nadler, author of The Language Of Cells: A Doctor And His Patients. The Second Vendetta is passionate, lyrical and compelling—one of the best historical novels it’s been my privilege to read in many years. Carl Brush has delivered a notable novel chockfull of edge-of-the-seat drama, a torrid romance, history, frontier politics and featuring one of the most delicious villains I’ve seen in a long time—the brutal and murderous Indian Yellow Squirrel who is hell-bent with erasing his long-time nemesis Andrew Maxwell in as painful a way as he can manage. The vistas are pure cinema—from the vast Maxwell ranch to the hills of San Francisco—and the cinematic nature of this novel makes it easy to visualize as a film. The story is violent and tender by turns and once you open it and begin reading, if you’re like me, you’ll suddenly realize it’s way past your bedtime. Get this book—it’s one to savor and read more than once. - Les Edgerton, author of fourteen books, including The Bitch, Just Like That and the forthcoming The Rapist. Is time travel possible? You bet. Carl Brush’s novel, The Second Vendetta, took me back 100 years and dropped me in a Northern California landscape that I recognized immediately, but a cultural milieu that took some getting used to. Rich and powerful white men dominate California. Women, working people, and people of color had better know their places and keep quietly in them. This is the basis of the social web that protagonist Andy Maxwell must learn to negotiate after it becomes known that his father was black. At the same time, he finds out that a vengeful killer has targeted his family. With echoes of Jack London’s The Sea Wolf, scenes reminiscent of Oakley Hall’s “Ambrose Bierce” novels, and a villain worthy of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, Brush spins an authentic and engaging tale of life in the Golden State after the great 1906 earthquake. - Dan Barth, Poet Laureate of Ukiah, CA and author of fast women beautiful
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherCreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 1480240826
- ISBN 13 9781480240827
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages329
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want