My review

Sweet. Real. No one can write about the west with such heartbreaking realism as Dorothy Garlock. She will always be a favorite! ( )

A very gentle 19th century love story. Set in Sweetwater, Wyoming Territory in the mid 1860s. Jenny is a teacher, fleeing with her young sisters from Pennsylvania, where the young sisters had had a very hard life at the hands of the husband of their elder sister. Fleeing to another county where, if she can handle the hardships for 5 years, Jenny will be able to buy some land. Teaching in the Indian territory is not going to be easy, however, the difficulties of life are not easy caused by not the Indians,but by the local reservation agent who is purely at the beck and call of his father in law. Both are nasty men, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. A local man Trell will help them cope with the hardships of their new home. He stumbles across a young girl whose family has been torn apart by the agent's men, and she and her grandmother flea to Jenny for not only safety but also that they can help Jenny. A firm friendship is formed by all of them, then Trell's brother enters the scene....

A very gentle novel, I really enjoyed the upbeat behavior of Jenny, who was possibly a woman before her time ( )

I appreciated knowing that when terrible things were to happen to Jenny & family, help was not far behind. The use of "twins" was engenious, as well as their different personalities; yet they still had that engrained warmth. ( )

Jenny Gray wondered if she could survive a day in an isolated cabin near an Indian reservation - and she needed to stay five years to make the land hers. She had never chopped wood or cooked a biscuit in her life before she ran away from Pennsylvania with her two young sisters to teach school to the Shoshoni. She wasn't like any other woman in Sweetwarter, Wyoming Territory, and local rancher Trell McCall thought her as proud and beautiful as a princess, a lady who would never fall for a man with only livestock to his name. But when a crooked Indian agent tries to drive her out, Jenny needs help. And when the untamed land begins to bestow its real riches - loyal, courageous friends and a rugged man ready to stand by her side - Jenny is ready to fight for their love.