By Kathleen Morris
The Transformation of Chastity James by Kathleen Morris (Five Star Publishing).
Kathleen Morris is a gifted writer and storyteller, as well as a meticulous researcher. Historical details shine through her writing as she describes places such as Dodge City, Topeka, and Chicago. Even her description of everyday things like clothing and food ring true to the era…
The young and beautiful Chastity James may have come from a privileged family, but she was far from being the typical socialite-debutant that you might expect in the daughter of a wealthy Boston horse breeder. While her friends giggled over their tea and prepared for a subservient domestic life among Boston’s elite, Chastity pursued her education and became a teacher.
In 1878, with the blessing of her father, Chastity leaves her home of Harrowhill to move to Dodge City, Kansas to be their new school teacher. Strong-willed and not afraid to say what’s on her mind, it soon becomes apparent that her new life on the Kansas prairie may not go as smoothly as she had hoped. The fact that she is also beautiful causes even more trouble for her in the form of an unwanted suitor—a rough and brutish man who eventually forces himself on Chastity with the intent of taking what he wants and leaving no witnesses.
Finding herself arrested for murder, Chastity is able to escape custody and finds herself fleeing for her life into the wilderness of the prairie with the law on her heals; a dedicated and persistent deputy by the name of Wyatt Earp.
Chastity befriends an injured outlaw named Beau, and the two of them become partners as they try to evade the law as well as the gang of killers that want Beau dead.
In their journey across Kansas, Chastity and Beau take up with Professor Julius DeMonte’s Traveling Medicine Show and his motley assortment of entertainers; humiliate Wyatt Earp and put an end to his pursuit; survive a train robbery, and rescue a young kidnapped girl from the very gang that wants Beau dead.
The Transformation of Chastity James is a wonderful story about “becoming.” It’s a story about discovering who you are and what you are capable of.
There is one school of thought that says that we are what our environment makes us and what our experiences teach us. Another theory is that it is who we are that shapes our destiny. Who knows, but maybe it’s not a little of both. But as I read this thoroughly entertaining book, with its cast of colorful and engaging characters, I felt more like, rather than watching her change into someone new, I was really a witness as she discovered who Chastity James had been all along.
Kathleen Morris is a gifted writer and storyteller, as well as a meticulous researcher. Historical details shine through her writing as she describes places such as Dodge City, Topeka, and Chicago. Even her description of everyday things like clothing and food ring true to the era.
One other thing I would like to mention, particularly if you are a man and you are reading this…do not let the fact that this is a book about a woman—written by a woman—make you think that you know what this book is going to be like. This is not a historical romance (although that element is present in the story). Although that is a very popular and respected genre, and I know many authors who write historical romance, that’s just not my thing. But as I said, this book is not that. This book is a page-turner that is full of fast action and humor as well as heartwarming personal relationships.
I look forward to reading more by Kathleen Morris. Whether or not it was the author’s intent, I see the possibility for further adventures of Chastity and Beau and I hope she gives it some consideration.
Kathleen Morris lives and writes in the desert Southwest. She is an aficionado of Western history and loves spending time in southeastern Arizona, following in the footsteps of the people she writes about. “The Lily of the West” is her novel of the life of Kate Haroney, aka Big Nose Kate, and her story “Mary Mary Quite Contrary” is included in the anthology “Contention.” She firmly believes the key to good historical fiction is diligent research about the places and people she writes about. She is a graduate of Prescott College and has taught writing and editing at Phoenix College.