HEART OF THE SANDHILLS

Themes of faith, love and racial reconciliation wind through this third installment in the Dakota Moons series, a well-written tale of mid-19th-century life in the sand hills of Minnesota. The beautiful half-Sioux heroine, Genevieve LaCroix Dane, returns from New York to find married love with the Dakota Indian Daniel Two Stars. "I didn't come back to Minnesota expecting life to be easy," Gen tells Daniel, but life may prove more difficult than she has anticipated. Her stepdaughter, Meg Dane, has contracted a debilitating case of the measles, while her stepson, Aaron, is enamored of the spoiled and wealthy debutante Amanda Whitrock, who may divert him from his calling to be a soldier. When Gen and Daniel are driven off their land by an Indian-hating neighbor, Daniel is forced to take a job as an army scout. A skirmish with hostile Sioux leaves Daniel with appalling injuries that threaten both his strong faith and his future with Gen. But as one character tells Daniel, "In the end, the awful thing that happens isn't what life is about. Life is about what we do with the awful thing that happens." Whitson, who was nominated for a Christy Award for the first book in the series, Valley of the Shadow, tends to let her characters sermonize, which can slow the story. The novel is also diluted by an unsatisfactory epilogue. However, these are minor stumbling blocks for fans of the series, who will enjoy seeing their favorite characters' lives unfold. (Jan.)