The Past

Antonio Whitehorse has been haunted by dreams of a beautiful woman for months.  He’s a man tormented by the past and determined to save The People from the degradation being forced on them by the United States government.  Being half-Navajo, he walks a fine line between the Navajo and the white man, never fully accepted by either one.  His cousin, Sonny, the tribe’s mesjaja hatali (medicine man) has also seen visions of Antonio’s dream woman and believes she is coming to save the Navajo.  Antonio isn’t sure what to believe, but finding the dream woman has become an obsession for him.

The Present

Halle Brooks is a talented costume and theater prop designer is on a mission of her own – to locate her birth mother.  She spent fifteen years in a children’s home feeling unloved and ugly and now just when it looks like she might find the answers she seeks a photograph reveals that the woman claiming to be Naomi Brooks can’t possibly be her mother.  Halle wants explanations and she wants them now – only a car accident curtails any plans she has of meeting this imposter and sends her crashing back in time to 1863.

When Halle awakens in her new reality, she’s being cared for by an extremely sexy man but there’s the unsettling issue of being completely naked and very vulnerable.  Before becoming an outlaw Antonio lived amongst the white man but turned his back on them when his estranged Navajo wife and infant daughter were slain at their hands.  He’s a trained doctor and takes great care in seeing to Halle’s injuries – he even ensures that her Chihuahua (can that really be classified as a dog?) is safe from harm until she can care for him herself.  Halle and Antonio desire each other but these are dangerous times – even more so than Antonio realizes because according to Stella, Halle’s spirit guide, she looks exactly like a young woman who disappeared without a trace.  With a bounty on his head by the U.S. Calvary and a murderous ‘uncle’ determined to kill Halle it doesn’t look like a happily-ever after is even possible.  However, being from the future Halle is privy to as yet unwritten history and aware of the fate of the Navajo.  Can she convince Antonio to follow her lead or will his need for vengeance and determination to save The People cost them all their lives?

Kimberly Ivey’s RIDE THE WILD WIND is a captivating story from beginning to end.  As a reader I was swept back in time and my heart ached for the Navajo people and the tragedies they endured.  Halle and her little dog Max lend a comical air to an otherwise serious story full of heartache, betrayal, angst, and plenty of hope.  There’s a whole cast of memorable characters who alternately brought either a smile or scowl to my face but never failed to bring about some sort of emotional reaction.  Normally when I’ve read historical stories the characters are predominantly white so I loved that Ms. Ivey bucks the system and gives Halle a different cultural background.  It creates an extremely interesting dynamic feel to the relationships throughout the story.  Halle and Antonio suffer some difficult issues but their passionate natures complement each other beautifully and their dedication to family and friends make them even stronger as a couple.  This is a rather lengthy novel but with Ms. Ivey’s talent for storytelling the pages flew by as I found myself completely immersed in Halle and Antonio’s struggles with reality and fear for the future.