From Publishers Weekly
Fackler (Billy the Kid: The Legend of El Chivato) resuscitates outlaw Seth Strummar in a strong, dark new western. As the novel opens, Seth accompanies his partner, Joaqu!n Ascarate, to buy his beloved Heaven Free out of a life of prostitution. In order not to separate Heaven from her sister Hekuba, Seth obliges by purchasing the sibling. Soon, however, Seth is taking advantage of the arrangement by taking his "rights" with his new acquisition. Returning to their home, Seth sets Hekuba up in her own house, where he visits her frequently. Although he attempts to hide the relationship from his wife, the arrangement grows notorious around town. Trouble looms when Adam Noah arrives, threatening to kill Seth for leaving him high and dry after a bank job in Texas. To save her man, Hekuba kills the would-be assassin, setting off a cycle of violence and retribution that shatters the friendship of Seth and Joaquin and sends Seth to prison. Things will only be set right when his daughter sets out to "prove a woman's love is stronger than men's destruction." Fackler has a keen sense for dialogue and period and a classic, clipped prose style. Seth's brutality (and the book's undercurrent of violence toward women), however, may alienate some readers from her hero and his world.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Heaven and Hecuba Free are sisters, but Heaven is light skinned and can easily pass for white, a useful attribute in the post^-Civil War Southwest. Hecuba doesn't have that option and must endure the scorn of those around her. Their lives change drastically when brothel owner Raul Ortega sells them to Joaquin Ascarate, a wealthy caballero. He marries Heaven and vows to care for Hecuba, but when Hecuba takes Joaquin's friend and married partner, Seth Strummar, as a lover, a potentially deadly game of retribution begins. The struggle extends over more than a decade and eventually forces all the key characters--especially the heretofore amoral, dangerous Strummar--to reevaluate their lives and their relationships. Once again, Fackler demonstrates her mastery of character-driven westerns in which women are the self-aware, self-reliant, and ultimately stronger players. Fackler's audience is deservedly growing.
Wes Lukowsky
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
