Breaking The Prairie Wolf Code
by Lavonne Mueller

The time is 1866, the setting a wagon train moving slowly and perilously westward across the American frontier.

Helen, the pampered young widow of an army colonel, and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Amy, are hoping for a new and better life in California.

Used to the amenities of a refined Eastern upbringing, Helen tries bravely to adapt to the rigors of the journey, but their misfortunes multiply as they lose some of their precious food supply; Amy's clothes, put out to dry after she falls in a river, and blown away in a desert storm; and the delicate Amy falls ill with ague.

The gruff trailmaster cannot leave his responsibilities to help them; the awkward attentions of a young love-smitten suitor who courts Amy before riding off to join the army only deepen Helen's distress at how far they have distanced themselves from their old life; and even the kind attentions of a wise old black "conjure woman" can do little to alleviate their plight.

As Amy grows weaker it is clear that she an