Desert Hearts

Marjorie Farrell

GR Review by Linda Morris Desert Hearts, as the title implies, is a western, but it's unlike any other western you may have read. No cowboys, no machismo, no spunky schoolteachers, no cartoon-like Native Americans. Instead, just an incredibly well-written, well-researched story about characters coming to grips with the horror of the Indian wars in New Mexico territory during the 1860s. As a teen, Elizabeth Woolcott is the sole survivor of a massacre that kills her family on the Santa Fe trail. She is rescued by a kindly older officer who sends her to stay with his sister, and then later marries her. Elizabeth marries him out of genuine fondness, but not romantic love. As an officer's wife, she enjoys a certain status and security that make the loveless marriage a comfort to her. She lives a closed-off existence, filled with fears of the Native Americans who live nearby, and looking...

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