They are en route on the wagon train, Ross’s wife is pregnant, and she dies in childbirth leaving a screaming baby needing a nurse. She is prim, genteel, and “pure,” a symbol of the new respectable life he wants to carve out for himself. Ross idolizes his wife and puts her on a pedestal – she represents everything he thinks he wants. Having left his troubled youth behind, he married his boss’ daughter (while daddy was away) and she convinced him to leave for Texas, since she was desperate to get out from under daddy’s thumb. I loved Ross Coleman, despite his faults, because he came across as a deep down honorable man trying to escape a murky past. For a while she remains a mystery on the train, until fate brings her into the life of Ross Coleman. The baby does not survive, and Lydia is found by two boys whose mother and father rescue her and allow her to join them on a wagon train heading to Texas. Lydia drops with exhaustion, and gives birth where she falls. Utterly depressed, she keeps running, all the while wishing herself and the unfortunate result of one night’s rape dead. Lydia Langston is a young woman on the run from the abusive step brother who impregnated her. I adore this book for many reasons that I’ll get to later, but for now let me introduce the two main characters. The cover of Sunset Embrace (originally published in 1985) describes it as “a classic love story,” and really nothing describes it better.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |