Bushy: A Romance Founded on Fact

About this book

Bushy is a historical romance set against the harsh yet vivid backdrop of the Rocky Mountains in the late‑19th century. The narrative opens with a reflective, almost lyrical description of Bushy’s childhood in the mines, positioning her growth from a “strange child‑life” to a woman forged by rugged frontier conditions. The opening pages quickly move from that nostalgic rumination to a concrete scene in Afton, Iowa, where Bushy’s father, a geologist, decides to take his four‑year‑old daughter on a western expedition after the death of her mother and the collapse of his business partnership. Their departure is narrated in a blend of dialogue and interior monologue, establishing Bushy’s fierce attachment to her father, her stubborn independence, and the practical hardships that will shape her character.

The novel’s voice is unmistakably of its period, employing dialect‑spiked speech, extensive interior commentary, and a formal, almost didactic tone that reflects the author’s intent to illustrate the “value of such character.” Its style combines detailed description of mining life with episodic, action‑driven episodes, shooting, animal chases, and frontier chores, rendered in a straightforward prose that never shies from the grit of pioneer existence. Readers who enjoy richly textured historical fiction, especially stories that foreground strong‑willed young women navigating father‑daughter dynamics, mining communities, and the untamed West, will find Bushy’s blend of romance and realistic frontier detail compelling.

Opening lines

Bushy is real, but she is no longer a little girl. In her memory the scenes and incidents of that strange child-life in the Rockies mingle to form a single pleasant dream. Their hardness is all gone. They have become impersonal, so that it would often be difficult for Bushy herself to determine where the line runs that separates individual experience from environment. But no matter! The whole picture is a truthful one, as those who knew Bushy in the mines could testify. …

Keep reading free · chapter 1 needs no account