Shadow of the Moon

by Edward McSweegan

Overview

July 1878, and the West is teeming with astronomers eager to observe a total solar eclipse. Cora and four other female astronomy students have accompanied Professor Maria Mitchell to Colorado for the event, but their chances of seeing it are threatened when a railway dispute forces them to entrust their precious telescopes to a young freight hauler's wagon. Nolan Carter is determined to get his cargo and passengers to their destination, but as one thing after another goes wrong, he despairs of reaching Denver in time. Yet he could happily spend more time with the surprising Cora, who accompanies the telescopes while her companions take the train. Meanwhile, overhead, the celestial clock-indifferent to worldly dangers, delays, or distractions-is ticking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509248322
Publisher:	Wild Rose Press
Publication date:	03/01/2023
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.64(d)

Editorial Reviews

2023-12-19
In search of adventure, a young man from Chicago finds more than he bargained for in the wilds of 1878 Colorado in McSweegan’s novel.

In the middle of the night, Nolan Carter, his younger brother, Brian, and their childhood friend, Davey Tyler, are sleeping by their campsite in the Colorado foothills when they are awakened by the sound of twigs snapping. Davey sits upright and is promptly shot in the head by an unseen assailant. Nolan and Brian grab their guns, begin shooting in the direction of the gunfire, and chase off their attackers. Brian has had enough of Colorado and returns to Chicago with Davey’s body. Nolan stays behind, still “looking for something.” Working as a freight hauler between Pueblo and Denver, he heads over to the rail station to check on potential hauling prospects. There he encounters Professor Maria Mitchell, who is in charge of three younger women (Mitchell’s younger sister and two former students) and in a state of distress. They are astronomers from Vassar College, traveling to Denver to view and record the 1878 total solar eclipse, stopping in Pueblo to change trains. But they have arrived in the middle of a railway war between two companies; the ladies, with their baggage and valuable telescopes in tow, are stuck in Pueblo. Nolan offers his hauling services and the action-packed narrative shifts into high gear. McSweegan seamlessly weaves together traditional frontier story elements with the sociological battles of the emerging Suffragette and women’s equality movements, then adds a hearty portion of astronomy. Descriptions of the solar eclipse, with daylight vanishing behind a blackened moon surrounded by a pulsing corona, are riveting (“it appeared like a giant black mouth about to devour us”). Desperados, gunfights, a quartet of marauding Indigenous people, dusty trails, and drenching storms are juxtaposed against Eastern refinement and comforts. Nolan, the soulful, newly-minted cowboy from Chicago, is a winning hero. During the long, treacherous journey to Denver, he discovers that young astronomer Cora Harrison is as indomitable as he.

An enjoyable western with contemporary sensitivities.

Kirkus Reviews