By the time she arrived in Colorado in 1873, via San Francisco and the Sierras, 40-something Isabella Bird, one of Victorian England's freer spirits and most popular travel writers, had already completed solo explorations of Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. It was her intention to be the first woman to climb Long's Peak, the highest point in the Colorado Rockies, a feat she ultimately achieved with the help of a one-eyed outlaw by the name of Rocky Mountain Jim Nugent. In fairly pedestrian prose, Murray (Flaming Sky) offers a fictionalized chronicle of the nearly four months Bird spent in Colorado and her struggle to attain this dream in spite of the bears, hostile settlers, incompetent guides and injuries she met along the way. Much of the story focuses on her relationship with Nugent, who, in this telling, was the only man Bird ever truly loved. Snippets of Bird's own writing open each chapter; those who suspect that the real Isabella Bird was a far livelier woman than the one who appears on these pages might well be tempted to seek out A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains, which served as Murray's inspiration. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In the 1870s, Isabella Bird leaves her home in England to travel the world--alone. Her travels shock the straitlaced Victorian world, but Isabella keeps wandering, and even writes books about her excursions to such exotic locales as Hawaii, where she descends into the mouth of an active volcano. For her latest adventure, Isabella is determined to be the first woman to climb to the top of Long's Peak, the tallest spire of the Colorado Rockies. Before she even arrives at Estes Park, the starting point for the ascent, Isabella hears about "Rocky Mountain" Jim, a one-eyed, murdering outlaw of a mountain man. When Isabella and Jim meet, his gruff exterior and gentlemanly manner capture her heart, and later his poetry and pleasure in the quiet beauty of his home cement her feelings. The unlikely pair do fall in love, but Jim's fight against the destruction of Estes Park threatens to tear them apart. Basing his story on a real-life incident, Murray brings his independent heroine and the man she loves to vivid life. A natural for Ann Rinaldi fans.--Melanie Duncan