set in northern California, that tells the tale of two women in love with the same man. Anne Ellis and Ellen Cassidy are separated by a generation. They turn completely different faces(content and at peace vs. energetic and naive)to the world, and are brought together by Ellen's brash act of seeking Anne out.

Their relationship matures quite by accident and they both find a strength from each other that will last beyond their mutual love for one man. LeCompte wrote this, her first novel, more than 12 years ago, but it is timeless in its characteriztion and in the beauty of her love for the simpler things in life...gardening, cooking, and the love of fine literature.

Really a terrific read!

This extraordinary first (and only so far, it seems) novel came my way about five years ago, and since then it has become one of my all-time favorites. Being a voracious yet disciminating reader, that's high praise from me.

Moon Passage abounds with beautifully-written lines and clear-eyed, simply-delivered utterances about life's mysteries and philosphies. The characters are amusing, filling, and true. Although the story is simple and, in a way, as old as time itself, it is told so easily and with such fresh inflection that it seems as if you had never read such an original work before.

This novel is highly recommended. We can only wish that Jane LeCompte will write another one.

"Moon Passage" tells the stories of Anne Ellis, the wife of a famous writer, and Ellen, her husband's most recent of several girlfriends. Ellen is determined to mine the details of Anne's life, to discover why it was that her lover left her, and why he always returns to Anne. In turn, Ellen's arrival sends Anne into deep introspection: neither woman emerges unchanged from their interaction. LeCompte's imagery is beautiful, her prose is smooth and finished, and the story is intriguing, although occasionally slow-moving. A very interesting and promising first novel, which, unfortunately, has not been followed with any others.

I have come to the conclusion that anything written by or edited by Leroy Hafen is a must read. Add to that, a fine introduction by Janet Lecompte. The book itself describes 22 meaningful, condensed biographies of well known and not so well known French fur traders and trappers of the early 1800's. Each chapter conveys the
hardships, lifestyles, pressures and strategies of opposing fur companies and adventures of these early pioneers. The reader will no doubt have a few favorite chapters and from these chapters, one can look at the bibliographies to select further readings. A good book.

This book offers some very good, concise descriptions of eighteen lesser known fur trappers,traders and mountain men of the early American west. After reading several books on this subject myself,there were some names I never came across before who were very instrumental during this time period: James Kipp, Gabriel Franchere, William Laidlaw, David Dawson, William Gordon and John Sanford to mention a few. Each one of these men's lives had obstacles of hardships, disasters, frustrations, etc. to overcome and all had something to do with the founding and development of the early American west in one way or another. It was a fun book to read and the bibliographies in each chapter simply 'whet the appetite' to read more about these interesting early frontiersmen.