The Removes (Wheeler Large Print Book)

"The Removes is a stunning, vivid portrayal of captivity and freedom, and wars waged on the landscapes and peoples of the American frontier. Soli's writing is so visceral and evocative one feels transported to that moment when history is forged. At once intimate and sweeping, unflinching and compassionate, The Removesis a magnificent read." --Vaddey Ratner, PEN/Hemingway Finalist, author of In the Shadow of the Banyan

"Tatjana Soli's The Removes is a rousing, thoroughly engrossing novel of the Indian Wars in the tradition of the best of western fiction. Told through the actions, suffering, and inner musings of three very different characters--the demon-ridden George A. Custer; his fervid wife, Libbie; and a persevering young woman captive of the Cheyennes--The Removes tells a tale of impeccable verisimilitude that is at once a tightly interwoven narrative and a kaleidoscopic picture of the Indian Wars of the American West. Readers will emerge with a keen appreciation of this tragic American epoch." --Peter Cozzens, author of The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West

"Soli braids a beautiful and harrowing tale of Custer, his wife, and a fifteen-year-old girl held captive out on the western plains. Intimate and panoramic all at once, this is a novel of transformation and self-reliance, a book that powerfully questions what we know of women on the American frontier." --Dominic Smith, author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos

"Tatjana Soli weaves a stark western landscape, a national tragedy, and intimate portrayals of two pioneer women into a poignant and powerful tapestry of identity and belonging that will break your heart. I absolutely loved The Removes." --Meg Waite Clayton, Langum Prize-honored Author of The Race for Paris

As the first wave of pioneers travel westward to settle the American frontier, two women discover their inner strength when their lives are irrevocably changed by hardship. With taut, suspenseful writing, Tatjana Soli tells the intertwining stories of Libbie Custer, wife of the Civil War hero; and Anne Cummins, a teenager taken captive by the Cheyenne. Both will grow into women unwilling to be restrained by the strictures of 19th-century society.