White Crow

Set in the nineteenth-century American West, this book opens the story of a family that rises to considerable power. Isaiah Crow, a mountain man, reaches Alta California and rescues a band of travelers from outlaws. They turn out to be kin to vaqueros who ride for Don Hernando Batista, a leading landowner in Southern California. Eager to present their guests, the vaqueros bring Isaiah before the rancho's patrón. There he meets Francisca, the don's daughter, and the two quickly fall in love. Their union produces a son, Jedadiah, who is taught to read and write as well as the arts of war. Through him, the House of Crow is set to become one of the most influential families in the land.