Return to the River

Spanish Bit Saga #11

by Don Coldsmith

After abandoning his half-breed son, Jean Cartier, a French sergeant, has second thoughts and returns to the Elk-dog Band

Genres: Historical Fiction, Westerns, Native American

179 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Don Coldsmith was an American author of primarily Western fiction. A past president of Western Writers of America, Coldsmith wrote more than 40 books, as well as and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. His “Spanish Bit Saga,” a series of related novels, helped to re-define the Western novel by adopting the point of view of the Native Americans, rather than the European immigrants.

Reviews

[Jim]

I wanted to read a nice short Western and this one is short. Published in 1987, this is Book 11 of The Spanish Bit Saga series written by Don Coldsmith (1926-2009). The series is about "the West" before the cowboys, before the homesteaders, before the telegraph and the railroads....it actually starts in the 16th Century with the contact of the Spanish with the Plains Indians. In this, the eleventh book, we are up to the 18th Century and a French expedition is going down the Mississippi River. A member of the expedition, Sgt. Cartier, deserts to find his wife and her people to the west. He had left them to return to "civilization" but he decided to find "the People" and stay with them after all.
Coldsmith is great at showing the world from the Native American viewpoint--and at a time before the whites began coming into their land to take it over and destroy their way of life.
June, 2023--did a quick reread of this book before donating it for a library book sale and before reading more of "the Spanish Bit Saga."

[Carol Colfer]

This short book was very good. It's the 11th in a series, which I now want to read more of. The author was attempting to portray native Americans as real people, and he does so quite successfully. I have experienced many of the internal conflicts portrayed in this story---the hero is torn between returning to the indigenous group with whom he stayed a year (marrying and having a child) and continuing his life as a soldier in the French colonial Army. The story takes place in Michigan and down the Mississippi---not entirely clear how far down, but much of it takes place on the plains. There is talk of the Wabash and the Ohio Rivers as well. The characters are nicely portrayed, and there is sufficient action to hold one's interest.

[Little Timmy]

Very good "Western" story. It's actually not like your normal American Western tale. Lots of nicely developed characters and a nice continuing storyline. Recommended

[Partridge Public]

Coldsmith, Don PB

[Cws]

W Col