From Publishers Weekly The Holts and their extended family of employees and friends give readers a glimpse at the good， the bad and the ugly forces driving the early West: self-determination， camaraderie， greed and racial bigotry. Set in the 1880s， the novel journeys from Oregon to Nevada depicting the travails of silver mining， a scarlet fever epidemic et al. The characters are well drawn and diverse: patriarch Toby Holt and his son Tim are plucky， self-made men of integrity; Janessa， Toby's half-Indian daughter out of wedlock， wants to become a doctor but must deal with prejudice and sexual harassment; the Holts' foreman， White Elk， bears the weight of society's judgment when he falls in love with a Chinese immigrant. Ross presents endearing players in a nicely paced family drama， the first in a projected multivolume saga that continues where the bestselling Wagons West series left off. The action is low-key yet interesting， the story line is handled with sensitivity and skill. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information， Inc.