River Thunder - Paperback

by Gary McCarthy (Author)

On the vast and indescribably beautiful South Rim of the Grand Canyon a young Hualapai boy faces a bleak future in 1902. River Thunder's mother has just passed into the Spirit World and his father has nothing left to give the boy except his hand carved flute and his magical gift for music. It is a time in America's history when Native American children were separated from their loving families, tribes and even their ancient and traditional cultures and sent to distant "Indian Schools" for re-education and vocational training. River Thunder will carry his flute, courage and trusting innocence to the Hackberry Day School still standing today on old Route 66 while never once imagining how his fate will one day soar like an eagle over the magnificent Grand Canyon. His life's journey will carry River Thunder into a tender but forbidden love and the terrifying but exhilarating experience of aerial warfare fought in a World War I biplane. RIVER THUNDER was the recipient of the prestigious Western Writers of America's 2009 Spur Award for Best Western Audio Book. The story begins in the early 1900's and ends shortly after World War I, and is set against the harsh background of Arizona's rugged northern mountains and the magnificent Grand Canyon.

Author Biography

Author Gary McCarthy has over three million books in print, including fourteen American historical and thirty-four western novels, handled by major New York publishing houses. His first "Canyon Country Books" offering, "Maddie O'Brien and the Christmas Donkeys", is now available for order on Amazon starting with the 2010 holiday season. The author is well suited to writing about the American West; he grew up with horses and received a B.S. degree in Animal Science and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nevada. Before becoming a full time novelist, McCarthy was employed as an economist. He has a keen interest in Native American cultures, especially the Navajo, Hopi and Hualapai who live in his beloved Arizona. Gary McCarthy resides in Arizona with his wife and soul mate, Jane. He has been the president of two Rotary Clubs. He also enjoys hiking and horseback riding in the Grand Canyon Rim Country when he is not traveling the Southwest in search of new stories upon which to base his next novel.