A CLAIM OF HER OWN, by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Mattie O'Keefe is on the run. Her destination is Deadwood, South Dakota, where her brother, Dillon, has a gold-mining claim. Mattie's plan is to hide from her past--a past which is on her trail, seeking vengeance.

In Deadwood, she finds more than gold. Friendship and salvation beckon if she will accept them. However, she's been so damaged by her past that she believes no one would want to be her friend if they knew her story. The friend she holds at the greatest distance is the Lord. In A Claim of Her Own, Whitson has written an entertaining tale about a rugged time in South Dakota's history.

Whitson doesn’t sugar-coat the conditions Mattie finds in Deadwood when she arrives. The descriptions leave little to the imagination. I loved this story for its unflinching look at what people can become with no law and no God.

A Claim of Her Own has a strong spiritual message, and one of the clearest explanations of coming to faith that I've ever read (see page 287). Except for a deus ex machina scene near the ending, this story held my interest throughout.