His easy childhood crumbled when a painted arrow plunked into his father's chest. Thirteen-year-old Nigel Blackthorn, the spoiled son of a Protestant preacher, escapes the martyr's death that claimed his missionary family, but the preacher's kid finds himself alone and struggling to survive the wild frontier. Coming-of-Age in 1853 West Texas.
Will plump, lazy, and spoiled Nigel learn to survive on the prairie?
Will the passing mule-train become a rescue or become bondage?
Is the defrocked priest, Pascal, benevolent, or a benevolent dictator?
Nigel enters an unwelcome new world-work or starve.
Two hundred miles later, when the mule train reaches the first settlement, Pascal gives Nigel a choice: enter an orphanage or enter apprenticeship on the mule train for a piddling wage.
Years later, Nigel wonders if the orphanage would have been easier.
The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn is the 1st dramatic story in The Apprenticeship series of exciting western action. If you like rich descriptions, multidimensional characters, and tales bringing history to life, then you'll love Frank Kelso's coming-of-age novel
Buy The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn to ride a mule-train across the real Wild West today