The Copelands: A Western Saga

by Doug Bowman

Overview

When Seth Copeland returns home to Kentucky after the Civil War, he is a different man. Having expanded his horizons during the war, he finds himself suddenly restless, his mind filled with the tales of his fellow soldiers in arms about the wide-open spaces and cheap lands of Texas. Packing up his family and earthly belongings, he sets out on a daunting trek across three states.

The journey is perilous and filled with many obstacles, including fighting off cougars and sneaky mule thieves who plague the post-Civil War South. Deeper into Texas is worse, a land of fearless Comanches and ruthless bandits, but Seth and the family forge on. Certain of their belief that if they make it, they will become one of the big cattle-baron families of the Lone Star State.


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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466836839
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/15/2000
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	751 KB

About the Author

Doug Bowman was a Grand Ole Opry performer who came from an established family of country singers. He was the author of The Quest of Jubal Kane, The Guns of Billy Free, and The H&R Cattle Company-all from Forge books. He passed away in the summer of 2000.
Doug Bowman was a Grand Ole Opry performer who came from an established family of country singers. He is the author of The Quest of Jubal Kane, The Guns of Billy Free, and The H&R Cattle Company-all from Forge books. He passed away in the summer of 2000.

Editorial Reviews

A Kentucky family's journey to a new life in Texas after the Civil War fuels this multi-decade horse opera of the Copeland clan's adventures. Bowman's eighth novel (The Quest of Jubal Kane) promises reckless, Wild West adventures on the high plains and encounters with gunslingers and lawmen, but delivers a tepid saga hampered by clich d characters and burdened with ineffective dialogue and lackluster plotting. Seth Copeland, soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia, returns from the Civil War "without a scratch," and takes his parents, his wife and six kids to Coryell County, Tex., in 1866, having heard there's money to be made in cattle ranching. On the family's journey they entertain themselves by shooting the occasional wildcat or thief, dreaming of Texas and quieting squabbling kids. Once established in Texas, the Copelands grow and prosper, and within two decades they own the largest and richest cattle ranch in the county. Everybody gets along fine until one Copeland son is murdered and two other Copeland boys take to drinking, gambling and law-breaking. Seth avenges his dead son, but seems strangely detached from the other two, who are soon wanted for bank robbery and murder. Oddly, Seth bows out of the story as a central figure, and is replaced by a young deputy sheriff who has a personal score to settle with the two Copeland bad boys. This is where readers' pulses will race; the deputy's pursuit and the expected showdown is the high point of the novel, but most fans of the western genre will surely want a little more giddyap in their ride. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly