High Trail to Danger

Opening in Chicago in the late 1800s, Nixon's novel concerns sisters Sarah, 17, and Samantha, 14. After the girls' mother dies, their money-grubbing aunt and uncle take over the family boardinghouse. At her younger sister's urging, Sarah takes what little money has been hidden away and travels to Colorado to find their father, who left 15 years earlier to make his fortune in the silver mines. Sarah grows up quickly as she faces the rigors of the frontier and the attentions of two handsome young men. This entertaining frontier adventure/romance provides a credible, stirring picture of the Wild West. Sarah is a plucky character who uses her wits to fend off attackers, discover the painful truth about her father and negotiate a courtship throughout a fast-paced and compelling narrative. Ages 12-up. (June)