Shirl Henke’s Western
historical romances are all excellent. This trilogy is no exception.
It begins with Night Wind’s Woman. Set in 1787 in the
north of Mexico and New Mexico, it tells the story of a half Apache-half white renegade,
Night Wind (his Apache name), who as a child was taken captive by the Spaniards
and forced to work in the mines, a virtual death sentence.
Keenly intelligent, Night
Wind escaped and was raised and educated by the Catholic fathers. As an adult,
he regained his Apache roots and works to free Indian prisoners and take
vengeance on the Spanish conquerors. His hated enemy is an Irish mercenary who
is now the Governor.
Night Wind decides to
take the Governor’s son captive and raise him as an Apache. Instead, by mistake
he captures the Governor’s stepdaughter, Orlena Valdez, a beautiful
golden-haired Spanish Castilian. Orlena is no shrinking noblewoman. She is educated,
outspoken and willing to fight for fair treatment for the Indian prisoners. It
never occurred to her that sneaking out in boys’ clothes to view a festival
would land her in the arms of Night Wind.
In her well-researched, intricately
detailed novels, Henke captures the feel of the Old West as she weaves a
wonderful story of cruelty, injustice and revenge—revenge that is conquered by
both goodness and love. She brings us into the time when Spain dominated not
only Mexico, but what would one day become the Southwestern United States, a
time when both the Apache and the Comanche were preyed upon and sought their
revenge on the white man. As Henke recognizes in her Author’s Note, there were
good and bad men among both camps.
The 3-book series on Amazon.
The 3-book series on Amazon.
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| Book 2 |
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| Book 3 |
I highly recommend this trilogy!
The Santa Fe Trilogy:
Night Wind's Woman
White Apache's Woman
Deep As The Rivers
Thanks for the introduction to Shirl's stories, Regan. I think you've mentioned her before (in a Best Of list?), but I failed to get any of her books. This time I bought a couple of firsts in her series to get a taste of her writing. Again, thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi, Janice. Shirl's books are on my Best Western Historical Romances list and my Favorite Heroes and Heroines list. One of my very favorites is Capture the Sun and I do recommend it.
DeleteI recently read 'The River Nymph' and loved it. The image of Clint stalking away from the poker table, naked except for his guns will stick with me for a while I think!
ReplyDeleteDoes 'Capture the Sun' work as a stand alone?
I'm definitely going to read more of Shirl Henke.
Yes, it does, Quantum. It's the first in the Cheyenne trilogy:
DeleteCAPTURE THE SUN (1988)
THE ENDLESS SKY (1998)
SUNDANCER (1999)