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.