Rating: 4.50 (1 ratings)
First published 2013
Thirteen-year-old Eli McCullough watches Comanche raiders kill his mother and sister before dragging him from his Texas homestead in 1849. The boy adapts quickly to tribal life, learning their language and customs, earning a place as the chief's adopted son, and fighting alongside warriors against their enemies. When disease and armed settlers destroy the tribe, Eli finds himself caught between two worlds, belonging fully to neither. He must forge his own path in a hostile land, using cunning and ruthlessness to survive. His choices echo through generations of McCulloughs. His son Peter bears the emotional weight of his father's relentless ambition. Great-granddaughter JA battles rivals in a male-dominated world to maintain the family's grip on power. The McCulloughs transform from frontier survivors into a wealthy ranching and oil dynasty, but their empire comes at a steep price. Love and honor fall victim to the family's hunger for dominance.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, 21st-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Texas, Comanche Territory
Period: 1849, 20th Century
561 pages · Hardcover · Ecco
Content warnings: violence