Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Washington socialite Alessandra O'Quinn and her lover, Indian shaman Manuel Mondragon, defy time and space and politics and families to come together in the sweeping canvas of the 1920's New Mexico outpost of Taos. Can they defy Destiny to stay together? This tempo molto largo historical follows Alessandra O'Quinn, who has been exiled to Taos to either recover from tuberculosis or die. Manuel Mandragon, battles for her health and her love. She in turn battles the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Taos Indians' right to their sacred Blue Lake -- and battles her father and her husband and brother for her right to autonomy. Against this historical backdrop pass Mabel Dodge Luhan, Willa Cather, Dr. Carl Jung, Georgia O'Keeffe, and D.H. Lawrence, among other prominent personages of the day.
Author Note
I was inspired to write this novel when living in
northern New Mexico. I stumbled across a quote (ca. 1922) by the
avant-garde philanthropist Mabel Dodge Luhan, who wrote that she found
her soul mate, the Taos Pueblo Indian Tony Luhan, βin the eleventh
hour of my life."
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