The Angel's Backbone
In this prequel to the author’s Rainbow Road Trilogy, eighteen year old Pioneer, Verin Palmer, (AKA Virgil Stubbs) journeys west with his uncle, to Oregon in 1869. As southerners, their old allegiance to the south must be kept a carefully guarded secret; all of the other travelers in the wagon train are Yankees. In the shadow of Mount Hood, the Stubbs party arrives too late in The Dalles, Oregon for safe passage down the Columbia river.
To complete the final one-hundred miles of the Oregon Trail requires a difficult choice. Rafting through the raging rapids could spell disaster, and traveling over the treacherous Barlow road through the Cascade Mountains around Mount Hood, is known to be the most difficult portion of the two-thousand mile Oregon Trail.
Angry members of the party blame Verin’s uncle who is also the wagon master for their late arrival. Virgil is reluctant to flee with his uncle as it means leaving Claire, the woman he loves. Although she is older and prefers to marry an older man, he holds out hope they can still they be together.
An empty leather holster Verin found along the trail, once held flowers for Claire; now it holds a Schofield revolver for his protection. With no clear pathway to success, both Verin and Claire must both make a difficult choice.