In Ton Ma by Magnolia Belle the reader is taken on a romantic adventure dating back to the 1800’s. We meet Lana, a seventeen year old girl, who proves to be brave beyond her years when she stands her ground against a Kiowa brave. The encounter sets the tone of her novel which is between foreigner and the native, between woman and man, between fear and bravery. Magnolia Belle elegantly describes the two separate groups of people with images of the Kiowa in braids of fur and mexican silver and the foreigners from a simple, but hard working background which leaves them exhausted in mind and body.
We learn that Ton Ma means water woman which is where Two Hawks, the Kiowa, first saw Lana. As romance blossoms between the two unlikely strangers, the tensions between the two families intensifies and the differences between two cultures could strain their attraction. Magnolia Belle paints the picture of their love and struggles beautifully with historical details and sincere feeling. Her words evoke passion and while the world is against them, the reader will find him or herself cheering for the two characters.
Beyond the families, Magnolia Belle explores further jealousies and pains felt by some of the Kiowa tribe because of Two Hawks attraction to a foreigner and when Corn Flower gets her chance, she declares with words and fists her detest of Lana. When Lt. O’ Connell arrives the threat between the two characters widens and the story twists into a unpredictable moment when the Apache appear. But as Two Hawks rescues the woman he loves, the Lt. O’ Connell proves to be a valuable acquaintance. But will the rescue of a foreigner create a chasm between the Kiowa and Apache who were friendly tribes with each other?
Complexities mount when the reality of Native living washes upon Lana’s life and she is faced with questions of Two Hawks hunting behavior and her own survival if she marries him. Love and life are often at different ends of the spectrum and if she choses love, will she have life and if she choses life, will she ever have love? Magnolia Belle uses this dilemma intelligently interwoven into the two lives of these two once strangers from different worlds with the biases of Lana’s family and the attentions of the Lt. O’ Connell while exploring the disparate cultures of the two main characters.
As the climatic ending approaches, the resolution is found through a series of events soaked in truths, sorrows, pains, and poetic clarity which finally leads Lana to finding where her life is meant to take her and who she is meant to love. I enjoyed this original novel about Native Indians and the foreigners they encountered while educating myself in their rich history and the passionate romances.
The book can be found on... Amazon. Kindle.Nook. Barnes n Noble and at her website: http://www.blackwolfbooks.com/
REVIEWED BY:
Ami R Blackwelder
http://hotgossiphoteviews.blogspot.com
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