When she was three years old, Ginny Nugent’s mother died, and so did her loving home. Cholama Moon by Anne Schroeder tells Ginny’s story in this late 1800’s novel which takes place in a remote section of southeastern Monterey County, California.
Ginny has a loyal friend in an old cowhand, Sancho Roos. When her father, Charlie Nugent, doesn’t provide the nurturing his daughter needs, Sancho is there for her. What is lacking–a well-kept home, proper clothes, schooling, the things a growing girl needs– is at least partially compensated by Sancho’s attention and teaching.
When Jeremy Larsen, a stranger from Virginia, comes along bearing greetings from Ginny’s mother’s relatives and friends, he’s appalled by Ginny’s lack of education and refinement. The ranch is in ruins and her father absent much of the time.
Cholama Moon brings to life how homesteaders struggled amid harsh conditions. When the burden becomes too great the weak succumb, but the strong rise above the hardships. Sometimes change takes a creative approach and Jeremy may be just the person to change Ginny’s destiny.
Author Anne Schroeder has the gift of bringing the reader into the grit and dust of a run-down ranch, of rocking with the frequent earthquakes in what was and still is the center of the San Andreas Fault. Schroeder shows how a caring person can change the course of what could be a hopeless life.
Cholama Moon is an excellent novel written by a writer with an obvious passion for the West and its people. This is the first of the Central Coast Series.