Maria: Santa Fe' to California. 1835, 1836

From the prolific pen of author Frank W. Lewis comes a tale as rough and tumultuous as the Wild West. Drawing on extensive research to breathe life into one of the richest periods of American history, Lewis' book, in a series about the Mexican Territory, Maria, spanning the years 1835 and 1836, this sprawling tale takes the reader from Santa Fe to California.
No stranger to whirlwind plotting, Lewis wastes no time in setting the stage for action: Having crossed the great"Prairie Ocean:'from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe in the new novel's opening pages immediately find Caleb in a gun battle with a number of mountain men, a violent encounter in which he ends up saving the life of Don Pedrode Vargas, son of the wealthy patron and rancho owner Don Miguelde Vargas. Invited to the rancho, Caleb meets and falls in love with Don Miguel's beautiful but headstrong daughter Maria. Maria is already betrothed to another: Don Alfonsode Vargas of Alta California, her father's cousin, in an arranged marriage. Forced to bid each other farewell, Caleb returns to his life of trading pelts while Maria prepares for her nuptials.