Spirit of the Moon — Earl Murray

Elizabeth, a young Nez Perce woman, accompanies her father and a company of Hudson's Bay trappers from her tribal lands in the northwest to the unknown Coyotero--the parched desert country of the Gila River. It is a dangerous enterprise, as the little expedition to the southern desert must battle the elements as well as hostile Mojaves, Utes, and Apaches, and a band of cutthroat raiders led by the renegade Etienne LaGrange.

For Elizabeth, called Spirit of the Moon by her people, the trek summons up strengths unknown to her. She learns to survive in a hostile land against forces of man and nature. Her otherworldly spirit is also called to task as she must come to grips with her betrothal to James Condon, the weak son of a wealthy British trader, and her love for the footloose adventurer Baker McLoed.

Earl Murray, among the most honored of writers of the Western frontier, combines his mountain and Indian lore expertise and skilled storytelling in the gripping tale of the great Southwest.