14. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Six-year-old Antonio becomes the protege of Ultima, an elderly curandera, in a small town in New Mexico in the mid-1940's.
This book is sometimes taught in English classes, but it was never on the curriculum when I was in high school. I checked it out of the library I run and read it recently. It's part coming-of-age story and part spiritual journey, and I found the spiritual journey part most interesting.
15. The River Nymph, by Shirl Henke
A decade after the Civil War, lady gambler Delilah Raymond wins a high-stakes game of poker against Confederate veteran Clint Daniels, taking his steamboat, which she intends to use to transport goods down the Missouri to the mining towns of the West. Daniels outmaneuvers her, though, and she winds up making the journey with him.
This is one of my favorite books by this author. It's the first in the River Nymph trilogy, though a better name for the trilogy would probably be "War is Hell," since that is the main theme throughout the series. Delilah is a widow, having lost her husband in the Civil War, and has lived by her wits (and with the help of her uncle's gun) since then. Clint is a veteran of the Confederate side, though he had no use for slavery. He also has a dark secret from his days as a "galvanized Yankee." Throughout the book, it's a question of whether he will be able to maintain the facade of civilization, or whether his journey back into the "heart of darkness" will cause him to revert to the savagery that ended his time in the western territories before. (Yes, Heart of Darkness is referenced in this novel.)
16. Spirit's Song, by Madeline Baker
In 1873, Kaylynn Summers is a runaway wife with a sizable bounty on her head (her wealthy, abusive husband really wants her back -- to teach her who she belongs to), who has been a captive of the Cheyenne for 8 months. Jesse Yellow Thunder is a half-breed bounty hunter who comes across her by accident in the Cheyenne camp and wins her in a horse race.
This is a well-written, sometimes humorous, and often sweet love story. Kaylynn is terrified of men after her experience with her husband, but learns to trust Jesse (and another would-be bounty of his, an incompetent half-Lakota bank robber named Ravenhawk). Sometimes more interesting than the romance story is the bromance between Jesse and Ravenhawk, who put aside their differences for the sake of Kaylynn, who sometimes gets in over her head.
17. The Midwife, by Gay Courter
Hannah Blau is a Jewish midwife-in-training at the Imperial College in Moscow in 1904 when an urgent missive from her mother brings her back to her childhood home in Odessa. Following the worst pogrom in Odessa's history, the family makes the decision to immigrate to America, where Hannah fights another type of prejudice (the medical establishment's prejudice against midwives) to become one of the most sought-after midwives in early 20th century New York.
This novel blended the the history of both pre-revolution Russia and early 1900's New York City with the story of a young woman overcoming incredible odds to not only survive, but succeed in her chosen career. Hannah is based in a large part upon the experiences of the author's grandmother, Anna Bialo Weisman, and Ms. Courter did a good job of mixing fact and fiction.
