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Publisher:
Forge (Tom Doherty) |
Release
Date: September 2002 |
ISBN:
0765340658 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon US
|| UK |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Historical Midlist (1868, Texas & Kansas) |
Reviewer:
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewer
Notes: |
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An
Uncommon Enemy
By Michelle
Black
Seota lives in a Cheyenne village
on the banks of the Washita River with her medicine man husband
and his family. When Custer and the Seventh Cavalry massacre the
inhabitants in a reprisal for "Indian atrocities," Seota
is spared - but only because at the last minute she is recognized
as a white woman. Eden Murdoch then becomes something of a cause
celebre, as well as a hot potato, regarded on one hand as a ruined
woman and on the other as a living example of what the Indians do
when they capture white women. Nobody wants to hear her true story,
which includes who the real villains are, and Custer's young aide-de-camp
Captain Brad Randall is assigned to look after her. But this act
will only make Eden feel even more torn between two worlds.
This is one of those mold-breaking
books that stay in the mind long after reading that challenges stereotypes
and succeeds on many levels. The strong, attractive but unglamorous
Eden has suffered much and at various hands, but not the ones most
people believe, while Brad appears to have it all before him. But
is it what he most wants? There is an uncompromising picture of
good and evil on both sides in this book, Custer in all his bizarre
and distasteful glory and a wonderfully tactile portrait of a dusty
frontier town, as well as a romance. This is a powerful book that
ought to appeal to both sexes and restore many readers' faith in
there being such a thing as a truly intelligent romance with not
a hint of frivolity in it. Not that this is a worthy book by any
means - there is too much life and passion in it for that - but
the essentially grim history makes it a world away from being remotely
cozy. One to read and savor for the treat that it is.
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