A Wind Of Many Colors

By John H. Brown

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979316006
• ISBN13: 9780979316005
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Majec Pr
• Length: 420 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

BOOK REVIEW: A Wind of Many Colors Reviewed by Reene Jefferies

This love story-murder mystery-adventure is set in pre-Civil War America. Brown, a master story-teller, weaves a plot that challenges one to distinguish between fact and fiction as he displays an incredible grasp of America's pre Civil-war period. A Wind of Many Colors is a moving chronicle of America's growth. In ships powered by the wind, Brown's characters, or perhaps their parents or grandparents, reached these shores where they still considered themselves as Spanish, English, Irish, German, French, or Negro, all living among the natives. He deftly describes how in 1859 an extraordinary group of this mix leave their mansions and cabins and take to the trails or steamboats to congregate briefly on the edge of our civilization. They pause in what he depicts as one of the most unruly places that the frontier ever harbored. Along the way he has introduced us to an astonishing group of women who happen to congregate in this tough river settlement that became known as Kansas City. The story's journey, however, begins by traveling through Philadelphia, down the Shenandoah, through the Cumberland Gap to Stone Mountain Georgia, then proceeds to Louisville and Paducah. Next comes Memphis to New Orleans before turning up river to St. Louis, then west joining the greatest migration America ever had. Brown first crafts a suspenseful story of attacks on John Purdy's family, These assaults prompts Purdy, an enormously successful western Kentucky merchant, to gain the help of this collection of gifted women and an ethnically diverse "delta" force he gathers about himself to deal with the circumstances. Purdy, turns out to be a genius in organization who first mobilizes, then executes a dazzling plan to capture the half-crazed man who is determined to seize his beautiful German wife, Mattie. The culprit has become so obsessed by her beauty that he is driven to possess her as his pet. Failing that, he feels compelled to kill her to gain peace for his troubled mind. Brown infuriates his readers with spellbinding accounts of violence against the Purdys, then makes uneasy cheerleaders of us all. He provides a fascinating portrayal of Purdy's search up and down the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. While headquartering in Kansas City, Purdy's team heads out the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails, and to the mines, then doubles back to finally corner their prey in the Mid-Missouri Ozark Hills. The end of Purdy's chase is one of the most gripping scenes in contemporary fiction and may well represent a chapter out of Brown's own military service. This novel, reminiscent of North and South, is an enjoyable history lesson on 19th century American and conveys a compassionate insight into the rugged willpower of those men and the creative intelligence of the women. Most of us will see some family history here. On the negative side there are a lot of characters and some of the circumstanc

Recent Industry Reviews

"Reminiscent of the breadth of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind and the suspense of John Jakes' North and South." --Benjamin J. Wolf, International Press Associates "An epic drama played out on the cusp of the Civil War, an homage to women of uncommon character and men of uncommon resolve--our ancestors, all." --From the publisher "...so fact-filled, you'll feel smarter after reading it." --Will Leathem, Prospero's Bookstore "An 1840-60's love story set amongst a group of robust and rambunctious characters, many tied to Southern plantations. Their lurid melodrama becomes guiltily compelling." --Kirkus Discoveries