JACKSON HOLE JOURNEY – Linda Jacobs
Connected to the Yellowstone Series
Camel Press
ISBN: 978-1-60381-910-7 (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-60381-909-1 (eBook)
March 2013
Historical Fiction/Romance

Wyoming near Jackson's Hole, 1925 to 1927

Francesca di Paoli learned her trade from her mother in the kitchen of a castello in Tuscany in Italy. After her parents died, she took her mother's place as chef until she saved enough to sail to America. She and her friend Vincenzo made it to New York, where Francesca worked to save enough to get to their ultimate destination, the wine country of California. Vincenzo, however, did not do his part; he even betrayed her with another woman. Francesca took their savings (all made by her) and left. She got as far as Salt Lake City in Utah when she ran out of money. She was fortunate enough to be rescued by a kind young man who took her to his home near Jackson's Hole, Wyoming.

At the turn of the century, Laura Fielding met and married Cord Sutton, a one-fourth part Nez Perce Indian—needless to say, it was not a popular move to her family. Today, they have two sons and a successful dude ranch operation near the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming. One son, William—the steady one—is the one who introduces Francesca to the Snake River Dude Ranch. Eventually, she becomes the chef there and a bone of contention between William and his one-year younger brother Bryce—the charming, but “irresponsible one.” Over the next two years, the family and their friends and neighbors under go earthquakes, landslides, floods, and racial bigotry. Lives are lost.

The relationships within the Sutton family take many turns, often with Francesca at the center. But that is only part of the story. The natural disasters the area suffers actually took place. There are many references made also to the arguments about making the Jackson's Hole area—it would be a few more years before the apostrophe S would be dropped from the name—a part of Yellowstone National Park, or making the Grand Tetons a park of its own.

JACKSON HOLE JOURNEY is an entertaining mix of a character rich story of people in peril, in love, and in everyday life, and almost a travelogue about one of America's most scenic places. Miss Jacobs knows the area well and can speak as a professional geologist. The action takes place twenty-five years after book three of the Yellowstone series, LAKE OF FIRE, which is the earliest in calendar time. Book one, SUMMER OF FIRE, takes place in 1988, and book two, RAIN OF FIRE, in modern times (2006).

Jane Bowers