Faraway Blue

by Max Evans

First published in 1999, Faraway Blue is based on the real-life exploits of Sergeant Moses Williams, former slave, Civil War veteran, and Buffalo Soldier in the Ninth Cavalry Regiment. Included in Moses's story are four women and two men representing the ethnic groups and economic levels found in the late 1800s American Southwest.

At the story's opening, Williams's cavalry unit has one kill Apaches in the faraway blue mountains of southwestern New Mexico Territory, also known as the Black Range. As a fighter in the white man's campaign to obliterate the Indians and take over their lands, Williams finds a nemesis in Nana, an old Warm Springs Apache warrior who is a tactical genius. Nana leads his small band of followers to repeatedly strike area mining camps and settlements. Both men know they must meet before the end of the war and a maddening cat-and-mouse pursuit ensues.
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Williams is sustained by his love for Sheela Jones, a mulatto whom he wants to marry when the army will allow it. But Sheela's love for him guides her to take an immense risk just as Williams and Nana ride out to settle their score.

Evans paints marvelous word pictures of a land and people he knows extremely well. - Booklist

As always with Evans, written with a good sense of the times and place. - Kirkus

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Karen Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I listened to it as an audiobook and couldn’t put it down.“ I live in the area of southwestern New Mexico that the author described, so it was even more meaningful to me. Until now, I didn’t realize that Max Evans was the author of Madame Millie, which I also adored!

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. Of course, I love Max Evans - his tales of the southwestern part of our country are authentic to my memories of growing up here in New Mexico, but this was a special gift. Our library keeps all of his books in the SouthWest section, and somehow this got shelved in the Fiction section, so it was lost to me for years. The setting is authentic, the story inspirational. The characters are people you 'know' and can emphasize with and love. If you are a western fan, give it a go. Set in mountainous southwest New Mexico, the action wanders from the Gila Wilderness Black Range to the Sacramento and St. Andres mountains in the Tularosa Basin.

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel one could recommend in a classroom to supplement learning about the Buffalo Soldiers and the war against the Apaches in the New Mexico Territory. The author does a fine job in combining his fictional characters and actual historical figures (the main character, Sgt. Moses Williams, his closest associates, all the army officers, and the Apache warriors) to create a story about "the complexities of war and love" that accurately reflects the conditions the soldiers and the Apache warriors faced. The description of the fighting is not overdone. This is a leisurely paced story that sometimes felt as if I was reading a history book and not a novel. It is not until the final battle when the author creates the most action and tension.

The author immerses readers in the "faraway blue" mountains of the New Mexico territory known as the black range. The conflict is a "cat-and-mouse" pursuit. The author tells this story from the perspectives of both the Buffalo Soldiers and the Apache warriors led by Nana. Nana's hit and run tactics against the soldiers and settlements as he tried to lead his tribe to Mexico reminded me of the struggle against Chief Joseph who tried to lead his band of Nez Perce into Canada.

One odd negative. The cover to this paperback edition is poorly done. I cannot conceive that it would attract readers.

[Cyndie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt historical novel about Warm Springs Apache Nana and Buffalo soldier Moses Williams battles in New Mexico.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got caught by the emotions of the individuals of the book. A very engrossing story from the beginning to the end. Rest in Peace to the Buffalo Soldiers and America Indians. We are one in Spirit.