A TIME IN THE SUN

by Jane Barry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 1962

A Book-of-the-Month Club alternate (with Moorehead's The Blue Nile) September, this diverges from the expected Western historical with the story of a young girl whose marriage to a half breed becomes not only a military issue but one of loyalty and love. It is also the story of Shafter, a Confederate who has never been whipped and is now a scout, who sees -- so clearly --the lines between the harried Indians of the Arizona Territory, the Army under governmental orders and the Indian-hating settlers of all colors. Anna's coach, bringing her from the East to Tucson to marry Linus, the son, of her guardian Col. Degnan, is held up and she is captured by one of the Apache bands, her captivity teaches her that Joaquin is her answer to her feeling for the raw, new country and her marriage to him holds promise. When Shafter finds and returns her to Tucson he realizes that she must go back to her husband in spite of orders to the contrary. Shafter and Anna meet again when the illegal reservation at Fort Grant is raided and brutally destroyed by vindictive landowners, and, with the peace broken twice, the ""word of the Americans is the word of a lie...it is nothing"". Here Cochise, Victorio and other Indian leaders, the life of the Apacheria, ignorant officialdom and Army disciplined obedience, are linked against --and for -- the unconditional surrender of a small group to a larger one in a bloody page of national history. This look at the record makes its points dramatically- and tellingly.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1962

Categories: FICTION