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In 1924, New York debutante Virginia Price, only 17 and pregnant after a rape by her boyfriend, is sent by her embarrassed mother to a remote Wyoming ranch to have her baby and give it up for adoption. Henry Mohr, the half-Native American stepson of the ranch's owner, is a World War I veteran haunted by his war experiences and a childhood filled with racism and physical abuse. Virginia misses her New York world of parties and speakeasies; Henry is happiest trapping wild animals alone in the mountains. Although they have nothing in common, these outsiders are drawn together by loneliness into a tentative, secret love affair. When Virginia's former boyfriend arrives, wanting to "do the right thing" and marry her, Henry pulls away and retreats to the mountains. Virginia must find the courage to decide her own fate, and that of her baby, as pressure grows for her to marry her abuser. The unconventional love story at the heart of this first novel is touching and unpredictable, the wild landscapes are indelibly described, and the characters are vividly drawn. Highly recommended. Karen Anderson, Quarles & Brady/Streich Lang, Phoenix, AZ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
An unexpected, passionate relationship between two lonely people from strikingly different backgrounds is at the heart of Jones's luminous first novel. In 1919, 17-year-old Virginia Price is a sophisticated New York debutante. Her father's recent death has left her shaken and unmoored, feelings exacerbated when she is raped and impregnated by her louche boyfriend, Charlie Stroud. Virginia and her aunt are dispatched to Frank Mohr's Wyoming ranch to await the baby's birth. Ranch life is a vivid contrast to her life in the city; she is unaccustomed to the reticence of these Westerners Frank's abused wife, Rose, and cowboys Dewey and Adze among them and to her new status as a fallen woman and a local curiosity. She's puzzled by Frank's son, Henry: at 24, he exists in a state of ennui, brought on by a vague restlessness, abuse by his father and what he observed during his war years in France. He and Virginia begin a clandestine relationship. Then Charlie appears at the ranch, determined to marry Virginia and begin their new life in Boston. Henry remains resolute in his love for Virginia, while Virginia is openly contemptuous of Charlie. Inevitably, tensions escalate and are released in a series of suspenseful and dramatic events. Both Henry's and Virginia's thoughts unfold in graceful prose, broken into short chapters full of small moments freighted with significance. Reminiscent of Plainsong in its evocation of Western atmosphere and daily rhythms, the novel should make the reader impatient for Jones's next effort. 6-city author tour. (Oct. 22) Forecast: Western readers familiar with the periodical Big Sky Journal, which Jones edited until recently, will gravitate to this impressive novel first; good regional sales and word of mouth should bring critical attention.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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