From Publishers Weekly
The familiar "will she or won't she" theme is given a serious twist in Eagle's latest (after What The Heart Knows), combining a solid western/romance plot with more complex, contemporary issues. Salt of the earth Clay Keogh, rancher and farmer, has heard the smalltown whispers: gorgeous Savannah Stephens is back in Sunbonnet, Wyo. The famous model is surrounded by mystery, especially because her small daughter looks exactly like Savannah's first love, the romantic and dangerous Indian activist Kole Catches Crow. Clay, Savannah's childhood friend and Kole's half-brother, has always been in the shadow of his romantic and dangerous sibling, and he's also always carried a torch for Savannah. Desperate to break through her serious depression, he offers her a marriage of security. Though Savannah accepts those terms, she slowly realizes that she wants to forge a real marriage with Clay. That is, if she can deal with his ex-wife, Roxie, and her kids and Clay's tough mother, Patty. Savannah has happiness within her reach, but she harbors a painful secret that she's afraid to admit to her adoring husband, and he, in turn, remains afraid that she'll decide to take up her old life. Eagle draws her main characters with substance and her supporting characters with verve. Savannah's daughter, Claudia, is a charmer who plays a surprising role in the narrative, and while Kole is something of a red herring, he's an effective story facilitator. (Aug.) CURTAIN CREEK FARM Nance Van Winckel. Persea/Braziller, $22 ISBN 0-89255-250-6 ~ An anarchist commune in Washington State, founded in the '60s, survived the disenchantments of the next decades, but its idealistic inhabitants are shaken when one of their longtime members, Lila, dies of cancer at age 50. Poet and fiction writer Van Winckel's (After a Spell; Quake) collection of eight interconnected stories tenderly and honestly describes the joys, compromises, dreams and hard realities of the farm, "a world away from the world." In truth, a generation after the farm's inception, the collective collides with the outside world more often than not. Lila's herpetologist son, Russell, is seriously enamored of Lila's friend, Geneva, in "The Lap of Luxury." In "Making Headway," Roxanne gives Geneva deep-tissue massages, and knows that her back problems stem from being "spooked by love"; that is, she's afraid to accept Russell's devotion, because he's 15 years her junior. Roxanne's husband is long gone, prompting advances from Frito, a nomadic Web designer. The children of the community poignantly respond to Lila's death by organizing mock funerals for kittens, possums and other animals, even staging one for a four-year-old playmate ("The Land of Anarchy"). This ceremony is interrupted by the appearance of a cougar, one moment of many where Van Winckel's canny symbolism satisfyingly vexes the distinction between nature and culture. The children, meanwhile, demarcate the thin line between the commune's stubbornly radical vision and its inescapable participation in various social constructs. In the final story, "Treat Me Nice," this division is beautifully transcended. Francine, a nurse, encounters an Elvis imitator with a mysterious injury, whom she marries on the farm. At the wedding, 12 other Elvis imitators, singing "All Shook Up," parachute to earth from a plane high above. The narrative is chock-full of surprising images like this one, as Van Winckel merges popular culture and utopian lifestyles with rosy, generous vision. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
When beautiful model Savannah Stephens comes back to Sunbonnet, WY, to care for the woman who raised her, she brings a six-year-old daughter, a brave if wounded spirit, and the need to heal. But Savannah's return also brings a mystery: who is the father of her daughter, and why has Savannah come home? The answers are slow in coming, but longtime friend Clay Keogh is determined to helpDand he is there with his love when Savannah needs him the most. In this hard-hitting, down-to-earth romance, Eagle turns her considerable skills to the very real issues of breast cancer, reconstructive surgery, and the emotional aftermath. Readers are given not just a poignant, satisfying romance but a realistic yet hopeful look at a situation that many women will face. Eagle (What the Heart Knows) is a highly regarded writer of emotionally involving romances who lives in the Minneapolis area. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Eagle's western romance contains a message of hope for women with breast cancer. Fashion model Savannah Stephens has come back to Sunbonnet, Wyoming, with a six-year-old daughter. The small community is abuzz, but few have actually seen Savannah, who is hiding out in the apartment upstairs from her aunt's store. She hasn't worked in years and is broke and scared about her chances for survival after breast cancer surgery. Clay Keogh, local rancher and her best friend before she moved to New York, realizes that he still loves Savannah and tries to work on her the gentle magic that soothes his horses. He befriends her daughter and tries but fails to get close to Savannah, with whom he has frantic sex without achieving true intimacy. The problem is that having lost her perfect body, Savannah believes she has no real worth. Hard choices and sad stories are part of this compelling tale about the value of love and dreams in the struggle to not only survive, but to truly live. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved



"A Contender For The Mantle Of Lavyrle Spencer."



"A good man is hard to find, but a romance by Eagle is a good place to start."



"A distinctive voice."


Book Description

After years of living the glamourous life, one far different from the one she was born into, Savannah Stephens has finally cme back to the purple hills of Sunbonnet, Wyoming. Her presence has all the local gossips buzzing -- just why she returned . . . and who is the father of Claudia, the beautiful child she's brought with her? And when she takes up with handsome Clay Keogh -- one of the last good single men around -- things really begin to heat up.

Clay Keogh senses there's more to Savannah's return than she's letting on. Why is she so determined to hide from the world? What scars could she be hiding from him? Clay remained behind in Sunbonnet to tend horses when Savannah went East seeking fame and fortune. But his love has never wavered -- and he's not going to give up on her now.


About the Author
Born in Virginia and raised in New England, bestselling author Kathleen Eagle set aside a gratifying seventeen-year teaching career on a North Dakota Indian reservation to become a full-time novelist. The Lakota Sioux heritage of her husband -- and thus of their three children -- has inspired many of her stories. Among her other honors, she has received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times, the Midwest Fiction Writer of the Year Award, and Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award. Library Journal named The Night Remembers one of the five best romances of the year. With more than thirty books in print, Kathleen takes great pleasure in reading letters from readers who tell her that her books have tugged at their heartstrings, entertained, inspired, and even enlightened them. You may write to her c/o Midwest Fiction Writers, P.O. Box 24107, Edina, MN 55424-0107

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Savannah Stephens has finally come home to the purple hills of Sunbonnet, Wyoming, after years of living a life far different from the one she's known. But her return has set Sunbonnet's queen bees buzzing. Why has this dazzling, successful woman returned home? And where is the unknown father of Claudia, the beautiful six-year-old daughter she brought with her? Savannah isn't talking. But one person refuses to let her retreat into isolation. Strong, silent Clay's steadfast love for Savannah never wavered while she was gone, and he's not going to give up on her now.

About the Author:

Kathleen Eagle is an award-winning writer whose books have been critical and commercial successes. Married to a Lakota Sioux, she often writes of the issues facing Native Americans today with a knowledgeable and deft touch. She lives with her husband in Ninnesota.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The familiar "will she or won't she" theme is given a serious twist in Eagle's latest (after What The Heart Knows), combining a solid western/romance plot with more complex, contemporary issues. Salt of the earth Clay Keogh, rancher and farmer, has heard the smalltown whispers: gorgeous Savannah Stephens is back in Sunbonnet, Wyo. The famous model is surrounded by mystery, especially because her small daughter looks exactly like Savannah's first love, the romantic and dangerous Indian activist Kole Catches Crow. Clay, Savannah's childhood friend and Kole's half-brother, has always been in the shadow of his romantic and dangerous sibling, and he's also always carried a torch for Savannah. Desperate to break through her serious depression, he offers her a marriage of security. Though Savannah accepts those terms, she slowly realizes that she wants to forge a real marriage with Clay. That is, if she can deal with his ex-wife, Roxie, and her kids and Clay's tough mother, Patty. Savannah has happiness within her reach, but she harbors a painful secret that she's afraid to admit to her adoring husband, and he, in turn, remains afraid that she'll decide to take up her old life. Eagle draws her main characters with substance and her supporting characters with verve. Savannah's daughter, Claudia, is a charmer who plays a surprising role in the narrative, and while Kole is something of a red herring, he's an effective story facilitator. (Aug.) CURTAIN CREEK FARM Nance Van Winckel. Persea/Braziller, $22 ISBN 0-89255-250-6 ~ An anarchist commune in Washington State, founded in the '60s, survived the disenchantments of the next decades, but its idealistic inhabitants are shaken when one of their longtime members, Lila, dies of cancer at age 50. Poet and fiction writer Van Winckel's (After a Spell; Quake) collection of eight interconnected stories tenderly and honestly describes the joys, compromises, dreams and hard realities of the farm, "a world away from the world." In truth, a generation after the farm's inception, the collective collides with the outside world more often than not. Lila's herpetologist son, Russell, is seriously enamored of Lila's friend, Geneva, in "The Lap of Luxury." In "Making Headway," Roxanne gives Geneva deep-tissue massages, and knows that her back problems stem from being "spooked by love"; that is, she's afraid to accept Russell's devotion, because he's 15 years her junior. Roxanne's husband is long gone, prompting advances from Frito, a nomadic Web designer. The children of the community poignantly respond to Lila's death by organizing mock funerals for kittens, possums and other animals, even staging one for a four-year-old playmate ("The Land of Anarchy"). This ceremony is interrupted by the appearance of a cougar, one moment of many where Van Winckel's canny symbolism satisfyingly vexes the distinction between nature and culture. The children, meanwhile, demarcate the thin line between the commune's stubbornly radical vision and its inescapable participation in various social constructs. In the final story, "Treat Me Nice," this division is beautifully transcended. Francine, a nurse, encounters an Elvis imitator with a mysterious injury, whom she marries on the farm. At the wedding, 12 other Elvis imitators, singing "All Shook Up," parachute to earth from a plane high above. The narrative is chock-full of surprising images like this one, as Van Winckel merges popular culture and utopian lifestyles with rosy, generous vision. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

When beautiful model Savannah Stephens comes back to Sunbonnet, WY, to care for the woman who raised her, she brings a six-year-old daughter, a brave if wounded spirit, and the need to heal. But Savannah's return also brings a mystery: who is the father of her daughter, and why has Savannah come home? The answers are slow in coming, but longtime friend Clay Keogh is determined to help--and he is there with his love when Savannah needs him the most. In this hard-hitting, down-to-earth romance, Eagle turns her considerable skills to the very real issues of breast cancer, reconstructive surgery, and the emotional aftermath. Readers are given not just a poignant, satisfying romance but a realistic yet hopeful look at a situation that many women will face. Eagle (What the Heart Knows) is a highly regarded writer of emotionally involving romances who lives in the Minneapolis area. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/00.] Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Kirkus Reviews

A good man is hard to find, but a romance by Eagle (What the Heart Knows, 1999, etc.) is a good place to start. Flat broke and disillusioned model Savannah Stephens gives up her formerly fabulous career in New York and returns home to Sunbonnet, Wyoming. No one knows why she's back, but Clay Keogh, a local rancher, intends to find out. Clay has loved Savannah ever since he can remember, although he suspects that her six-year-old daughter, Claudia, may be his brother's child. He can't be sure, however, since Savannah isn't telling and his brother, an Indian activist, has been running from the FBI for years. Strong, silent Clay bides his time until Savannah reveals that she has been treated for breast cancer and now believes her once-perfect body is too flawed for a sexual relationship. Clay attempts to reassure her, but Savannah guards her heart. Then he makes an impulsive offer: bed, board, and (most important) health insurance so she can obtain the follow-up care she so badly needs. She'll have to marry him, but in name only, no strings attached. Touched by his kindness, Savannah agrees and begins sorting through her emotions in a breast cancer survivor's group. She decides to do something in return for Clay, a skilled farrier who often buys old, sick horses and nurses them back to health. Savannah pulls strings to help him start a retirement farm for horses whose owners can afford to buy them a happy old age. Clay is delighted, the wary Savannah is finally won over by his gentle strength, and soon Claudia is blossoming too, no longer afraid of losing her mother. Here, as in much of Eagle's work, good things happen to good people, albeit after muchtravail.Unlike most romance writers, she avoids the usual ornate rhapsodizing in favor of a rugged lyricism that suits her mountain setting down to the ground. Heartfelt and homespun, with a believably gallant hero who (sigh) never asks stupid questions.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Kathleen Eagle is an author without peer. — Tami Hoag

Kathleen Eagle is a national treasure. — Susan Elizabeth Phillips