Without the Thunder
Description
An outcast Society belle falls in love with a Navajo man. Can they defeat the woman who's driven to destroy their happiness?
After falling from grace with her family in Philadelphia, Alicia Beaufort is shunted off to relatives in the Arizona Territory. Disturbed at first by the things she learns about the West, she gradually comes to realize that White's Station has what she's always longed for: simplicity and peace.
Yet all is not quite as it seems in the tranquil village.
Alicia begins to keep company with Tommy Twelve Trees, a Navajo man and gifted blacksmith. But she soon finds herself in conflict with her aunt, who hates Tommy because of his race, and who is sending lie-filled letters to her family back home.
While Alicia does her utmost to save her reputation with those she left behind, the man who ruined her arrives in White's Station. Alicia is terrified that her past will become known?that the villagers and Tommy, whom she's come to love, will turn against her.
With her family relationships in chaos and past transgressions looming, Alicia knows she has to fight for the future she wants with Tommy, but she has no experience to draw on. Can she find the strength to take a stand against her family and former lover? Or will all her dreams come to naught?
"A stunning historical romance set in the heart of the Old West. The descriptive narration and setting plunge the reader into the story. But it's the characters which make it an unforgettable read." - N. N. Light's Book Heaven Review
WITHOUT THE THUNDER is a multicultural age-gap adult Historical Romance set in the Old West. Book 4 of the Donovan Family Saga, it shares characters with the other books in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone. Author Shout Reader Ready Book Awards Recommended Read, Spring 2023; 2025 Winner Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Multicultural Book Award
Books in The Donovan Family Saga:
Book 1: Whispers in the Canyon
Prequel: The Winds of Morning
Book 2: The Woodsman's Rose
Book 3: Rainbow Man
Book 4: Without the Thunder
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Person
Gifford MacShane is the author of historical fiction that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.
Her novels feature a family of Irish immigrants who settle in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800s. With an accessible literary style, MacShane draws out her characters' hidden flaws and strengths as they grapple with both physical and emotional conflicts.
Singing almost before she could talk, MacShane has always loved folk music, whether it be Irish, Appalachian, spirituals, or the songs of the cowboys. Her love of the Old West goes back to childhood, when her father introduced her to the works of Zane Grey. Later she became interested in the Irish diaspora, having realized her father's family had lived through An Gorta Mor, the Great Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s.
Writing allows her to combine her three great interests into a series of family stories, each with romance, traditional song lyrics, and a dash of Celtic mysticism. Having grown up in a large & often boisterous Irish-American family, she is intimately acquainted with the workings of such a clan and uses those experiences to good purpose (though no names will be named!)
The Donovan Family Saga includes WHISPERS IN THE CANYON (Book 1), THE WOODSMAN'S ROSE (Book 2), RAINBOW MAN (Book 3), and THE WINDS OF MORNING, a prequel novella requested by her fans. MacShane is currently working on Book 4 of the series, as yet untitled.
MacShane is a member of the Historical Novel Society and is an #OwnVoices writer. An avid gardener, Giff cultivates pollinator plants and grows tomatoes (not enough) and zucchini (too much). She loves to sing, though her cats don't always appreciate it. A self-professed grammar nerd who still gets a kick out of diagramming sentences, she currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Richard, the Pied Piper of stray cats.
