Legend is a wonderfully enjoyable story that will give you tears from every possible mood you can be in. Why it is listed in Amazon with Loren D. Estleman's name first is beyond me, he did not put this book together. I think it was Robert J. Randisi. At any rate, in my opinion all of the authors put in their best work. A book to be read again.

Another great anthology from some of the best western writers ever, and this is just a beginning. We can look forward to more great fiction from the new Western Writers of America anthology to be released next year. Great news for the genre! Meanwhile, read LEGEND!

I just recently finished Legend and throughly enjoyed it. I admit that I read "most" of the part about Speaks first love. Overall this was a very enjoyable western that kept me turning pages to see what would happen next. I have already passed it on to my neighbors father who enjoys westerns.

Jane Candia Coleman is a talented, experienced, entertaining storyteller. Borderlands is a collection of her western stories that fully documents her as a master of the short story format. A very highly recommended introduction to a major writing talent, this outstanding anthology of her work features Sandhill Cranes; Loner; Wild Flower; Fiddle Case; A Pair To Draw To; The Perseid Meteors; Rodeo; Marvel Bird; and the title piece, Borderlands.

More than Pulitzer quality, which is usually mediocre, and done by a superb artist. No wonder Coleman has won several awards for her poetry, including this one. A small edition in old style hand-sewn binding.

J.R. refers to J.R. Ewing of the historic Dallas T.V. program. The publisher changed the title of this book as a result of a poem about him from a more-appropriate "Painted Ladies and Fairy Tale Brides."

It covers people as diverse as Georgia O'Keefe, Savaronala and Cinderalla. A tour de force that unfortunately can never receive the attention from a wide audience that it merits. A once in a century type of collection.

This story, is more creative/nonfiction than historical novel in view of the weatlth of primary sources on both subjects of this two novella book: Big Nose Kate Elder and Viola Slaughter, wife of famous sheriff John Slaughter.

Author Coleman, has also written the historical novel on Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday's Woman. This book is of the same quality and with the same historical insights from the family of Big Nose Kate. She was of minor Hungarian nobility, rather than the frontier floozie as which she is usually portrayed, such as by Fay Dunaway. Prior writers didn't even know Kate's real name, except for Glenn Boyer who discovered her family and real identity.

Well worth reading both for Coleman's captivating style and characterization and for historical insights.

In the last several years i,ve been reading like there's no tomorrow . in that time, the words of approximately 1000 books have traveled through my mind (all western). at the end of each i write on the front page a short comment. some i"ve had to use a 3x5 card for more space. I,pearl heart is one of those books. the story will make your heart feel like you should jump into the book and help pearl get through life. i felt like jumping in and strangling some of the villians, hugging the very few good people. i am emotional anyway but was surely hopping pearl would find happinees by the end, or i,d burn the book. this was one of the best books ever.

I loved this book. I've given it to numerous people as a gift and plan to continue. Written in the best kind of poetic prose, these stories delight the mind while informing the spirit. One wearies so of stories that leave one feeling life is a struggle. These encourage us to overcome while weaving a tale. I noticed that the author was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for this and she deserved to win. I look forward to reading what else she's done.

I stumbled on this book in the only bookstore in that tawdry 'soiled dove,' Tombstone--and spent an evening lost in its exquisite, straight-on poems. Coleman's work here covers lots of ground, from the Apache Wars to the Star of Bannock, from a cowboy's victrola to quiet words at the edge of the mesa at Acoma. Many are grounded in Coleman's own southeastern Arizona. A few gems: "Belle Starr Addresses the Sewing Circle" is a frontier woman's eloquent assertion of her personhood and sexuality. "Letter from San Pedro" is a transplanted easterner's small, certain, flowing evocation of western land. "The Rainmaker" stirs together Bisbee, a bit of tall tale, and the worth of water in arid places. Read these poems. They'll leave you changed, a little more certain.

I stumbled across this book in the tiny library in Casa Grande, Arizona, during one of the roughest times in my life. Ms. Coleman's strength, vibrant images of the Southwest, and willingness to get out there and struggle to find a new self, were so inspiring and comforting for me.

This should be a "coming of age book" for every woman in that spectacular time in her life. It also needs to be shared with daughters.

I was working on the Pima Reservation at the time, and the author's descriptions of the mountains and the majestic landscape truly captured the stark beauty that is so captivating. One gentleman I worked with was disabled, but even with the intellect of a seven year old he could, with a box of crayons, reproduce the deep shadows and myriad colors that she so lovingly painted with words.

The book is a very quick read, but definitely a "keeper."

Well-written and well-researched, with a lovely romantic touch. It would be nice to have a sequal to it, and also to resolve the question which has been raised of whether or not they were married, as Ms. Elder stated in several interviews.

I enjoyed this book as I have few others. The story of Kate had me completely captivated and I could not put it down. I knew little of this fascinating woman before reading the book, but Jane Candia Coleman makes her live. She makes it so believable and real that I could almost feel myself on the trail to Dodge with Kate and Doc. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history.

Jane Coleman has written a wonderful book on Kate Elder. Most importantly, even though the book is clearly labeled historical fiction, Jane's sources and research makes even the fiction ring true, and presents new facts as it goes. I normally don't read fiction but could not put down Doc Holliday's Woman. George Laughead Jr., President, Ford County Historical Society, Dodge City, KS (it goes without saying that Karen Holliday Tanner's book, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, is also a must-read for anyone interested in the Old West--but everyone else has already said that!)

I found this book disappointing. The characters were too simple and the story too fairy-tale. Jake is simply rotten, Nan is simply perfect, Ben is a perfect gentleman... everyone seemed very one-sided. Girl meets boy and they are "deeply in love" within a couple of days, she has the money and support to leave her bad marriage and move straight into "perfect" love - a little too Harlequin romance-ish.

I took longer than I would have liked to read this book, but it really hit home. I too was in an abusive relationship for 26 years. I tried like Nan to make the best of everything. She went through so much and I could relate to almost everything she went through. Most people will ask why did you stay? Well Nan and I know how difficult it is to get out and away. She made me cry, and she made me cheer. Every Woman and Man should read this, and really try to understand what happens in these situations. I too now live in the Southwest and have found a wonderful life here, and a wonderful Husband. No one should go through what Nan went through. I hope Jane never stops her writing. She really knows how to keep the reader interested.

Thank you Jane
Karen

The title of this review is based on the reaction to the reading this book by Hollywood Agent (Selleck/Elliott) Bettye McCartt.

Psychological battering is very real and so much a fact of life for the victims that they think it is simply something they have to bear, like whipped dogs, as this book makes graphically clear. This form of abuse is subtle and insidious, but nonetheless equally as painful as beatings, perhaps more destructive of the soul.

As this book emphasizes, the first step needed for a woman to escape to a normal life is to recognize that she is abused. (Of course women are not the sole victims of psychological battering – or abuse, as it’s more commonly called – men are sometimes abused as well, both physically and mentally, but not as often as women.)

This book is a primer, based on real-life experience by a prize-winning author who recounts a parallel to her own story in the novelized form for which she is well known. This is fiction, but based on solid first-hand knowledge.

The first “desperate act,” is the suicide attempt of Nan’s teen-age son, Jamie, who has become desperate enough to do anything to escape the constant abuse of his father. This awakens Nan to her responsibility to save someone beside herself – the next generation. Only then does she fully comprehend that the primarily abused people have perhaps greater responsibilities to help their children escape and gain a hope for a normal existence. Yet, even with this incentive, she is paralyzed with fear of her husband, Jake.

She is driven to her own desperate act, the pivotal point of the book, after she is subjected to an outrageous cruelty when she is almost too ill to move. Still fearful, Nan braves up to the huge first step, which is to get a lawyer and discover her options. Writer Coleman makes clear how important this first step is, since most abusive husbands have convinced their wives that they can’t live without their support – can do nothing on their own, have no rights.

Even after she files for divorce and flies to a distant hideout, Nan is still afraid. She wonders if she can support herself and her son. She meets a man she is attracted to who appears to be everything she wishes Jake had been, but wonders if she can ever trust love again?

Jake told Nan, who was actually a stunningly talented writer, that her writing was trash and she could support herself as nothing better than a paper grader in some backwater school if she left him. She had her doubts, but never quite believed him despite his hold over her. However, his almost complete hypnotism of her is something she must overcome, and although she realizes it, and sometimes almost overcomes it, it recurs and she constantly has to fight the fear that he is right, or that he will follow her, make her come “home.”

Bonuses in this story are the parallel experience of Nan's lifelong girl friend with an unfaithful husband, which she valiantly concealed for sixteen years and the experience of Nan’s black maid and supportive friend with a troublesome man.

Nan and her lifelong girl friend are amazed to discover how successfully they veneered their misery in order to keep it from the public. Nan’s uncomprehending mother, a stereotype of proper upbringing, and her demanding mother-in-law contribute to her daily slavery. These older generations are at the root of fear of scandal if one’s marital misery is exposed. The feeling is always there for conventional wives, planted by the old ladies in their worlds, that perhaps there actually is “something wrong with them,” as their sick husbands keep telling them. The reactions to Nan's final desperate act of her mother and mother-in-law provides some of the most surprising scenes of this story.

Jake's obdurate belief that he is normal and everyone else is aberrant, and his antics to avoid facing himself are instructive.

It is not clear at any point whether Nan will fail or succeed in recovering her identity, and what her destiny will be. Author Coleman skillfully maintains the tension over this dual possibility of tragedy or redemption until the final pages. Nan’s story could be a tragedy or a success story, as she is all too aware, and the outcome is solely up to her right up to the wire.

This is a book that could have a great effect on correcting a barely recognized, widespread tragedy by alerting the public to the true nature of a mental problem of alarming prevalence. Too many women are alone and desperately afraid, for their lives and those of their children, unaware of the fact that there are houses of refuge for them. There are men who – dependent on an insane domination of women – try to recover by any means, including violence, their wives or “others” from such shelters – a horrifying but true fact.

This book is an eye-opening shocker and should also be read by ALL MEN. It obviously would be a waste of time, however, for Jake’s type, who cannot see themselves as less than perfect, but facing reality would be a delightful punishment...