The Turquoise - Anya Seton

nSeton, at her best, has a gaudy vitality all her own, and a sure sense of theatre. This reader for one, enjoyed The Turquoise enormously. -- New York Times n With accurate historical background, Anya Seton has constructed a touchingly tragic story of a girl who tried so hard to find happiness that she lost everything in her search.

The life of Santa Fe Cameron lingers long in memory. -- Springfield Republican n n Santa Fe Cameron was named for the town where she was born, because her Scottish father and a distressed priest could agree on no other name. When she is seven years old, the unexpected death of her father makes her an orphan.

Shortly thereafter, a Navajo shaman recognizes her psychic powers and gives her a turquoise pendant as a keepsake. This turquoise, the Indian symbol of the spirit, dominates her life. She eventually leaves the simple beauty of her native New Mexico to search for happiness in the opulent New York of the 1870s.

n nFor Fey, life is made up of violent contrasts: the rough wagon that brings her East and the scented carriages waiting before her own Fifth Avenue mansion; the glittering world of the Astors and a dreary cell in the Tombs. All the color, excitement, and rich period detail that distinguish Anya Seton's novels are here, together with one of her most unusual heroines. nn