The Union Belle

We once again encounter Mark Winslow in this book of the ever popular House of Winslow series. You may remember him from The Last Confederate; he is one of Sky Winslow's sons. After having spent a stint in a Mexico jail Mark finds himself in small Texas town. Through a series of events Mark shots a man and finds that justice may not be served true. Lola Montez enters Mark's life at this point. She has had a rough time of it living in the saloon that her mother left her and her sister. With things going on around that she doesn't like she turns to Mark Winslow in the hope that he will help her head north where she can try to find her father. After Mark's break from jail they head north where Mark has a job on the Union Pacific waiting on him. What will Mark encounter when he takes up a new position with the railroad, can he keep the railroad towns in order? What does life hold in store for Lola? Can she survive in the dangerous railroad towns? I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me a different look into what goes on in the railroad towns during the building of the great Transcontinental Railroad. If you have liked the series thus far I don't think you will be disappointed.

I've read the entire "Winslow" Series and this installment for me was the best of the lot. The two main characters, Mark and Lola, establish strong personalites that will touch and inspire later generations of Winslows in subsequent books of the series. The story itself is unusually unpredictable for Morris and keeps the reader entranced. This novel is movie-worthy.

This book starts out with a BANG--literally, and then an exciting escape from jail. The end of the book wraps up all loose ends, but the middle concerning the construction and battles of the Union Pacific Railroad did get a little tedious. However, if you have read the Winslow series, do not let this stop you--this is still a great book!