When schoolteacher Jenny Colter takes the train into the little Ozarks town of Tumbling Creek, she’s hoping to leave behind the violence which destroyed her family in post-Civil War Atlanta. But when she catches sight of the uncovered face of Luke Morgan when he’s robbing the train, he’s determined to keep her quiet by any means necessary…
Rebecca Brandewyne is another of those writers of big off-the-wall 80s bodice rippers which I love, though her work doesn’t reach for the soaring heights of WTF-ery that some others do. Still there’s very dark scenes and a good deal of violence in the second half of the book which managed to take me aback.
Luke is a likable hero, but it’s Jenny who really carries this book as a courageous but brittle woman who must make peace with her traumatic past to move on with her life. Unlike the heroine of most bodice rippers she’s described as a plain woman, and what draws Luke to her is initially her strength of character. I enjoyed the interplay between the two characters and how they slowly come to trust and care for each other. The external plot of Luke’s career as an outlaw and the mystery of Jenny’s past provides an enjoyable, more action-packed counterpoint to the romance.
The end of the book does wrap up a bit hastily for my liking, and I think Luke’s kids could have had a bit more personality, but that’s a pretty common failing of kids in romance novels. I liked the prose, purple as it may be, but the mystical elements of the framing device felt pretty pointless to me.
An important point to remember is that both Jenny and Luke are Southerners who lived through the American Civil, with all that entails. Though the book depicts a historical atrocity committed by the Confederate side, the characters still lament the loss of the South, the grand old way of life, etc., etc. and wave away mentioning the issue of slavery and emancipation. Jenny is also accompanied into her new life by two people who were formerly enslaved by her family, though the author does have them building their own life together and don’t entirely revolve around Jenny.
I would say look out for Gone with the Wind levels of racism in this read, which I can put aside as the historical setting but I know plenty of people wouldn’t be comfortable with it.
