Author(s): Guy Vanderhaeghe

Fiction

Charles and Addington Gaunt are searching for their brother Simon, who has gone missing in the wilds of the American West. Charles, a disillusioned artist, and Addington, a disgraced army captain, enlist the services of a guide to lead them on their journey across a difficult and unknown landscape. This is the enigmatic Jerry Potts, half Blackfoot, half Scottish, who suffers with his own painful past. The party grows to include Caleb Ayto, a sycophantic American journalist; Lucy Stoveall, a wise and beautiful woman who travels in the hope of avenging her sister's vicious murder; Custis Straw, a Civil War veteran searching for salvation; and Custis's friend and protector Aloysius Dooley, a saloon-keeper. This unlikely group becomes entangled in a drama that, as it unfolds, forces each person to come to terms with their own demons.