Last Train from Cuernavaca [Hardcover]

Lucia St. Clair Robson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

In the Christmas season of 1913, Grace Knight’s elegant old hotel on Cuernavaca’s main plaza is the place to see and be seen.  Mexico’s landed aristocracy, members of the foreign community, wealthy tourists, and young army officers with their wives flock to the Colonial.  Under the ballroom’s hundreds of twinkling electric lights, they dance to old Spanish tunes and to the new beat of ragtime.

Outside the city, in the shadows of the valley’s two volcanoes,  a company of federal soldiers raids the hacienda of Don Miguel Sanche, hunting for men sympathetic to the cause of the charismatic rebel leader, Emiliano Zapata.  In a hailstorm of rifle fire, sixteen-year-old Angela Sanchez’s life takes a horrifying turn.  After the soldiers leave, she returns to the ruins of her family’s home.  She collects her father’s old Winchester carbine, gathers the survivors among his workers, and rides off in search of Zapata’s Liberating Army of the South.

Last Train from Cuernavaca is the story of two strong and ambitious women.  For the sake of love, honor, and survival, they become swept up in a Revolution that almost destroys them and their country.   

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Last Train From Cuernavaca is an historical novel that lives up to both words.  It is a gripping story that takes us deep into tumultuous years of Mexican history that few Americans know about. We need more books like this."  --Thomas Fleming, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee 

"To read Lucia St. Clair Robson is to learn while being thoroughly entertained.  Last Train From Cuernavaca puts us through the tragic violence and political treachery of the Mexican Revolution and its consequences so intimately that we feel hunger, lust, thirst, grief and saddlesores, and admire anew the awesome durability and courage of the people of Mexico -- especially the women."
--James Alexander Thom, New York Times bestselling author of Follow the River

“Exciting and lyrically written, Last Train from Cuernavaca by Lucia St. Clair Robson brings the past to fascinating, fire-breathing life.  As the Mexican revolution sweeps into Cuernavaca, two young women – English and Mexican – are hurled into a high-stakes adventure that will help determine the nation’s future.  Add rich characters, unforgettable scenes of bravery, and two beautiful love stories, and you’ll know why no one writes historical fiction better than Robson.”  --Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Spies

“Lucia St. Clair Robson casts spells with words that pluck us from our armchairs and plop us instantly into the place and time of her choice.  In her hands, the characters she spun from whole cloth breathe and speak and sweat with the force of those who lived and who live again here as never before.  Last Train From Cuernavaca proves once again that Robson is an American treasure.”  --Loren D Estleman, Five-time Spur Award-winning author of The Branch and the Scaffold

About the Author

LUCIA ST. CLAIR ROBSON was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida.  She has lived in Japan and Arizona, and served in the Peace Corps in Venezuela.  She has written seven novels, including The Tokaido Road, Fearless, and Ride the Wind, which won the Golden Spur Award.  Robson lives near Annapolis, Maryland. 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765313359
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313355
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last Train from Cuernevarca, May 20, 2010

By 

A. Vinnola (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Last Train from Cuernavaca (Hardcover)

This was so good I stayed up late to read it. The characters were inviting and I related to them all. Well researched and well done! Great read! Make sure you put it at the TOP of your Summer reading list!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too Much Grace, Too Little Angel, July 30, 2010

By 

Tara (Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Last Train from Cuernavaca (Hardcover)

I learned alot about the Mexican Revolution throughout the reading of this novel tho it did get a bit confusing at times. There are at least two different groups of revolutionary farmers, a group of federales, a group of renegade federales, and then some bandits thrown in here and there and after a while, I couldn't tell who was killing, looting and raping who. After a while, I started to feel every single group was in the wrong, but I did like Angela aka Angel, a woman that dons a pair of pants and a sombrero and runs with Zapata's army to exact revenge on the federal soldiers that looted her casa and captured her mother.

The problem is most of the novel, a good three fourths is about Grace, not Angel. Grace is an piano playing English hotel owner who has adopted Mexico as her country and she falls in love with Rico, a soldier. I didn't find her near as interesting as Angel and unfortunately she monopolizes almost the entire story, her and Rico. I found Angel's romance with Antonio as they ride the country blowing up trains WAY more fascinating and felt they warranted a lot more ink than they got. I also would have liked more character developement on Angel.

The last half of the novel becomes a wild goose chase between Rico and Grace as one miscommunication after another occurs.

There is all too brief part in which a woman named La Gata shows up. She is a widow leading her own group of revolutionary widows turned combatants and I was disappointed that there was not more of her as well.

Had this novel been about Angela (with more appearances of La Gata), not Grace and Rico, I would probably love it. As it is tho, I can't say I am blown away. It's not a bad book, just not what I was hoping for

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consistently Excellent, July 19, 2010

By 

D.B. Jackson - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Last Train from Cuernavaca (Hardcover)

Last Train is an excellent example of Lucia St. Clair Robson's literary skills. The story is history, adventure, romance and page-turning excitement that makes it hard to put down. The characters and the story line are perfect. I found myself urging the author not to let anything bad happen to Angela and Antonio! Read this one! It's great.