Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Zephyr Trails is an endearing historical story of a woman who sets out to find her father, previously confined to Andersonville Prison, in the aftermath of the Civil War. Ehrlich brings the old west setting to life while maintaining the central conflict and a sense of forward momentum.
Prose: Ehrlich's prose is buoyant, lyrical, and vivid, evoking a sense of hardscrabble living without relying on overly folksy descriptions or dialogue.
Originality: Zephyr Trails offers a fresh premise, as a daughter seeks the whereabouts of her father. The author provides consistent historical verisimilitude, while delivering an engaging chronicle of the Old West.
Character/Execution: Ellis is a well fleshed-out protagonist. Her search for her father is rounded out by her career as a writer and her desire to take part in Western expansion through the messenger service. While the author invokes white settlers' fears about indigenous people, her main characters acknowledge white prejudice as well as the tribal specificity and individuality of the Native characters they encounter.
Date Submitted: May 29, 2024
More than just a story of a young woman’s search for her father, Ehrlich’s richly woven tale is an homage to Ellis’s search for herself. Her quest for answers leads her to an array of intriguing characters—both friends and foes—who play crucial roles in her future. Lucas Bilford, Ellis’s friend and publisher, pops in throughout the story, steadily standing by Ellis as she seeks the truth, while Jimmie—a rider with Levi Jack’s Wild West Exhibition—impresses Ellis with her passion for horses, a cause close to Ellis’s heart. When the two sign up with cunning business owner Hank Russel in hopes of delivering mail for the Zephyr Post, Ellis’s story transforms into an exhilarating, high-risk crusade.
Ehrlich’s nuanced characters set this novel apart, from the Indigenous Libby, Ellis’s best friend and half-Cherokee woman who wrangles on Ellis’s family ranch, to Joe, a Cherokee man working for the Wild West show, forced to play act battles to feed his family. Ehrlich hints at gripping backstories for the main players, like Libby’s history assisting with the Underground Railroad, lending the novel important historical context, and Ellis’s emotional struggles during the postwar era will resonate. This is a sensitive rendering of the trauma that comes with family separation and loss, portrayed through the eyes of a resilient, compelling female lead.
Takeaway: Young woman searches for her father in post-Civil War America.
Comparable Titles: Martha Hall Kelly’s Sunflower Sisters, Shaunna Edwards and Alyson Richman’s The Thread Collectors.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
