A review by starwarrior91
Betty Zane by Zane Grey

5.0

My new favorite Zane Grey novel. I’m passionate about early American frontier history and to find out that Grey wrote a whole trilogy of westerns when the “West” was only as far as the Ohio Valley excited me. The setting ended up as just one part of my enjoyment however. This book was filled with interesting characters, events, and a richness of prose that I’ve come to enjoy in all of Grey’s works. Betty was such a great character and her role in the Siege of the fort was almost too amazing to be true. Her romance with Clark was one of best I’ve seen in Grey’s books so far as well. It’s “old fashioned” compared to today, yet there’s a genuine feel to the characters that’s often missing in many love stories on the page and screen. The fact that this was his debut novel makes this all the more impressive, and based on his real life ancestors no less. Written in 1903 I’m just about as far removed from the publishing of this novel as he was from the actual events surrounding Betty Zane and the Siege of Fort Henry. Amazing how far the world has come since the 1780’s, the early 1900’s and now the 2020’s. It’s a great time capsule for both the era with which it’s set and the era which it was written. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.