A Voice in the Wilderness
Grace Livingston Hill
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Oct. 28, 2016)
In this classic adventure novel, Margaret Earle travels alone to Arizona from the Eastern United States during the 1890s. Margaret takes the long journey hoping to take a position as a teacher in the frontier state. However circumstances on the journey unlock her capacities as a bold, adventurous and adaptable young woman - her capable demeanor allowing her to befriend the cowboys present in the western plains and wilderness. Despite facing adversity and dangerous challenges, even being left stranded in the desert at one point, Margaret acclimatises to the Wild West culture of the Southwestern United States of the time. Lance Gardley, one of the cowboys with whom Margaret strikes up a friendship, frequently demonstrates - and downplays - his noble and gallant nature. The growing bond and attachment between Lance and Margaret runs parallel to Margaret's increasing affinity for the lands of Arizona, and the spirit of adventure that so contrasts the developed and settled east. Generally agreed to be one of Grace Livingstone Hill's stronger novels, A Voice in the Wilderness is a book bursting with the vitality, danger and spirit which encapsulates the Wild West era.