Friday, July 29, 2011

The Captive Trail-Susan Page Davis

The Captive Trail
Susan Page Davis
Moody, Sep 1 2011, $14.99
ISBN: 9780802405845

As a little child she was abducted from her family and forced to become a Numinu Comanche or starve. Years later in 1857 North Central Texas, Peca offers the insultingly low six horses to her adopted parents to make Taabe Waipu his squaw. Taabe fears Peca so instead flees hoping to find her white family. Instead she falls when her horse stepped into a hole.

Butterfield Overland Mail Company owner driver Ned Bright sees the body of a Comanche female who is clearly white. With two Sisters on board, he still stops to pick her up and take her to Fort Chadbourne. The two nuns take Taabe to their mission where she heals from dehydration and a broken ankle. As she relearns to speak English, Taabe and Ned fall in love, but he feels he owes her finding out who her family is even as the Comanche attack the Ursuline Mission.

The second Morgan family Americana tale (see Darlene Franklin’s opener, The Lone Star Trail) is a wonderful romantic suspense starring a strong cast that brings to life Antebellum Texas. Character driven, still the story line is loaded with action. However, although Ned is too heroic, the heroine owns the tale as her struggles to readapt are skillfully described as a key element in a warm Texas romance.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: