Glorieta (Paperback)

Based on actual events, Glorieta is the story of Jacob Stark and Adria Carrizo-a couple drawn together amid the chaos of the Civil War. Set thousands of miles from that conflict's better-known battles, Glorieta chronicles the ferocious contest that devastated the Southwestern Frontier. In 1861, Texans invade New Mexico Territory, intending to use it as a base for attacks on Colorado, Utah, and California. However, even a string of early victories cannot conceal the fact that the Confederates have overreached and their advance stalls in Santa Fe. There, Jacob-a young captain searching for redemption-meets Adria-the restless daughter of a wealthy hacendado. Despite their social and cultural differences, torn between obligation and longing, Jacob and Adria fall recklessly in love. With Union regulars unable to check the Confederates' progress, a brigade of mutinous frontiersmen recruited from Colorado's far-flung mining camps marches south. When the armies collide near the summit of Glorieta Pass, the resulting battle leaves both sides reeling. Jacob and Adria are separated. Hounded by Unionists bent on revenge, their supplies exhausted, Jacob and his fellow Confederates begin a grueling retreat across the desert. Setting out after the Texans, Adria fights off her father's henchmen only to find herself caught in a running crossfire between the Confederates and their Union pursuers. Learning that Jacob and his battered company have vanished into a waterless mountain wasteland, Adria risks everything to save the boy she loves. More about Glorieta at www.quinnkaysercochran.com