The Rock Child [Paperback]

Packed with drama, humor, the lore of American Indians and Tibetan Buddhists, plus unforgettable characters, this book is a dazzling tour de force and a deeply moving story. An unlikely trio comprised of the Shoshone Indian Asie, a Tibetan nun, and Sir Richard Burtonthe famous soldier and explorerflees from the Utah Territory to California in 1862. The Destroying Angel of the Mormon Church, Porter Rockwell, pursues them relentlessly. The journey is packed with colorful characters, including a fledgling journalist named Mark Twain. In the end Asie discovers why he was named the Rock Child, what it means to be a man of color in America, what spiritual path will nurture him, who his people are, and the strength of love. Reviews Blevins has stated his aim is to write mythic novels of the American West. He meets that goal in The Rock Child. The voices shift between an Indian-Anglo musical savant; Sun Moon, a virginal Tibetan nun shanghaied into American prostitution; and Sir Richard Burton, real-life explorer, linguist, and Arabian Nights translator. Joining Burton in rescuing Asie and Sun Moon from a dreadful fate is Mark Twain, a comedic catalyst that surprisingly few historical novelists have thought to exploit. Like Twain, Burton is well drawn. Hes a cultivated, Sean Connery-type sinner who feels badly about his appetites, and the picaresque passages told from his perspective enliven this ambitious narrative.  Library Journal A colorful novel set among the Mormons in 1862, featuring such real folks as Sam Clemens, Sir Richard Burton, Brigham Young, and Porter Rockwell, by the author of Stone Song, Win Blevins. Half-Indian Asie Taylor, a musical prodigy who has been accepted into the Church of the Latter-day Saints, drowns when his delivery wagon is overturned in a flash flood. He experiences an out-of-body experience, returns to life, and is amazed to see the scarred but beautiful face of Sun Moon above him. Sun is a Tibetan Buddhist nun wl3‰