The Texicans
A Novel
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
This historical novel of the American frontier is “a completely engaging tale following a handful of remarkable settlers” (Entertainment Weekly).
When cholera strikes San Antonio in 1843, Aurelia Ruiz discovers that she might have the power to heal—and also to curse. Meanwhile, Joseph Kimmel, a schoolteacher in Missouri and the son of a Polish Jew, learns of his brother’s death in San Antonio—and sets off for Texas.
Along the way, a runaway slave steals Joseph’s horse. He is rescued by Henry Castro, a man who is importing immigrants to populate his planned city, Castroville—and then Joseph finds himself agreeing to marry a girl to save her from a Comanche chief who has demanded her hand. Together they will establish a unique ranch, one that welcomes members of the Tonkaway tribe, Mexicans, escaped slaves, free African-Americans, and others in distress—and that will incur the wrath of some of its neighbors.
But Joseph has not yet encountered Aurelia Ruiz, who will set him on an unexpected path, in this “compelling” adventure that “brings so much fresh energy to the timeworn Western genre” (Austin American-Statesman).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Vida's luminous, dramatic seventh novel finds Joseph Kimmel, a Missouri school teacher, heading to mid-19th-century Texas to claim his recently deceased brother's belongings; he's left for dead when his horse is stolen. Across the plains, after her Texas Ranger husband dies fighting Comanches, Aurelia Ruiz takes refuge at a Comanche camp and adopts their ways. Henry Castro, a Frenchman with dreams of creating an Alsatian-immigrant populated town in his own name, not only rescues Kimmel but marries him off to Katrin, an unattached white migr whom a Comanche leader had espied and wanted for his own. The newlyweds head off to create a distinctive ranch, one that welcomes members of the Tonkaway tribe, Mexicans, escaped slaves, free African-Americans and others in distress. Affairs of the heart are never neglected in Vida's novels (Goodbye, Saigon, etc.), and Kimmel soon finds himself enraptured when he meets the beautiful Aurelia, just as a posse of xenophobic ranchers wreak havoc on the ranch. This radiant work of historical fiction vibrantly atmospheric and emotionally dense spans 12 years in the lives of many engaging characters, who come to life on every page.
