cover image Lady of No Man's Land

Lady of No Man's Land

Jeanne Williams. St. Martin's Press, $19.95 (382pp) ISBN 978-0-312-02229-7

Fortified with pride, determination and an iron will, and fiercely protective of her younger sister, 17-year-old Swedish immigrant Kirsten Mordal arrives orphaned and penniless in Dodge City in 1884. When her sister dies, Kirsten takes her new sewing machine and makes her way through No Man's Land, a lawless strip of territory stretching from Kansas to Texas, where she sews stylish dresses for the women living in the isolated area. She travels with her loyal protector and companion, a half-breed named Blue. The tenacious duo cope admirably with blizzards, floods, and even the disconcerting discovery of an orphaned baby girl in the prairie. The panoramic story also is peopled with snarling vigilantes, handsome, polite outlaws and sturdy pioneer women. A romantic thread is woven compellingly throughout the novel; Kirsten's true love, a rancher, is married to someone else; she is in turn courted by a suave and cynical entrepreneur. Williams ( A Lady Bought with Rifles ) has written a swiftly moving, absorbing story packed with romance, adventure and history, and distinguished by a vital, articulate, ultimately triumphant heroine. Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection. (Nov.)