Kirsten Potter

In 1850s Bethel, Missouri, people live simply, setting themselves apart from worldly distractions. But spirited Emma Wagner chafes at this would-be utopia. When her outspoken manner clashes with the colony's leader, she heads west in search of independence. But she discovers something unexpected: a longing for the warm embrace of community.

Emma Giesy, a strong-willed German American, believes her young family will thrive in the light of their newfound freedom after she and her husband branch off from their repressive religious community in 1856; she struggles to keep her children secure in the remote Washington Territory. [LARGE PRINT READING]

"It's the summer of 1880, and potential investment in Leadville's silver mines has brought former president and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant to this city at the top of the Rockies. But others in his retinue and in town have different agendas. Political aspirations fuel the dreams of young John Quincy Adams Wesley and his mother, while itinerant fire insurance mapmaker Cecil Farnesworth struggles against the seductive call of Leadville's red-light...

When the body of Joe Rose, a precious-metals assayer, turns up trampled behind her saloon, Inez Stannert is asked by the victim's widow to help settle his affairs, a job that leads Inez into a web of skewed assays, counterfeit money, blackmail, and murder.