When Madeline Hammond stepped from the train at El Cajon, New Mexico, it was nearly midnight, and her first impression was of a huge dark space of cool, windy emptiness, strange and silent, stretching away under great blinking white stars. Miss, there's no one to meet you, said the conductor, rather anxiously. I wired my brother, she replied. "The train being so late - perhaps he grew tired of waiting. He will be here presently. But, if he should not come - surely I can find a hotel?" There's lodgings to be had. Get the ...
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When Madeline Hammond stepped from the train at El Cajon, New Mexico, it was nearly midnight, and her first impression was of a huge dark space of cool, windy emptiness, strange and silent, stretching away under great blinking white stars. Miss, there's no one to meet you, said the conductor, rather anxiously. I wired my brother, she replied. "The train being so late - perhaps he grew tired of waiting. He will be here presently. But, if he should not come - surely I can find a hotel?" There's lodgings to be had. Get the station agent to show you. If you'll excuse me - this is no place for a lady like you to be alone at night. It's a rough little town - mostly Mexicans, miners, cowboys. And they carouse a lot. Besides, the revolution across the border has stirred up some excitement along the line. Miss, I guess it's safe enough, if you -
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The Light of Western Stars is one of my favorite Zane Grey romances. And when easterner Madeline Hammond gets off the train near midnight and things begin to happen right away, you know that this is going to be a good one. Gene Stewart, the other half of the romance is a man's man with the traditional western values but who has at first kind of lost his way because of drinking too much. But that gets straightened out through the love of a woman. The cast of characters includes some cowboys, old time cowboys, you will never forget. There's an animal, a magnificent horse, in the story; an automobile, driven by a cowboy who loves to go fast and scare his passengers, and this plays a vital role in the climax of the story as only Zane Grey can describe and tell it. This is another of his books which take place in contemporary times, written when these events were playing themselves out along the US-Mexico border. This is another of his books which is told primarily from the woman's perspective and would indeed appeal to the female reader; it's NOT a bang, bang shoot'em up with street duels and impossible violence, but realistic characters and events. It's a great book for anyone to enjoy, a historical romance set in the West; not a "western". Buy it.