Terry Grosz returns to the largely unexplored American West in his fifth historical novel in the Mountain Man series, "The Saga of the Barnes Clan, Mountain Men."
Wallace, Oliver, Otis, Cedrick and Sterling, sons of Barnes Clan Patriarch Rufous Barnes, in one day suffer the loss of their father to a heart attack and lose their family farm and Missouri Moonshine business to the Federal Government over unexpected and unpaid whiskey taxes!
Thus begins the Saga of the Barnes Clan, forced out of necessity because of family disasters into new beginnings facing their destinies in the unparalleled and often times dangerous American West as Mountain Men fur trappers. What starts out as a new life with the signing of a three-year contract with the American Fur Company as Mountain Men, soon finds destiny rearing its head at every turn in the trail in the form of adventure and deadly misadventure, as the Barnes Clan travels and traps its way across the beauty, danger and savagery of the untamed American West. In following years, adventures of the Barnes Clan includes facing the deadly Blackfeet, Northern Cheyenne, Arikara and Gros Ventre Indians, fierce attacks by the frontier's dominant predator, the grizzly bear, killing adventures with the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trappers hellbent on destroying the livelihood of the Barnes Mountain Men, thefts of valuable traps and horses by Indians and competing fur trappers, freezing to death in blizzards, freezing water temperatures when immersed setting their beaver traps, and the agony of a stray bullet! Throughout the men's fortunes and misfortunes, they never lose sight of their humanity or dream of making enough money to return to their beloved Missouri, buying land and settling down. Their fortunes are ultimately realized both monetarily and in unplanned human surprises, ending in a totally unexpected turn of fate...
The Saga of the Barnes Clan, Mountain Men, is an epic story of the life and times of a close-knit family of Mountain Men, who rise from the ash heap of humanity, struggle throughout an adventurous and many times dangerous life, finding 'life' once again, then upon returning to the 'smoothness of West Tennessee Moonshine', discovering fate dealing an unexpected hand...
