"When cholera strikes San Antonio in 1843, Aurelia Ruiz discovers that she might have the power to heal and also to curse. She definitely has the power to attract men. Is she a witch, a bruja?" "Meanwhile, Joseph Kimmel, son of a Polish Jew, who has been teaching school in Missouri, learns of his brother's death in San Antonio and sets off for the Republic of Texas. On the way he encounters Luck, a runaways slave who robs him, and is rescued and befriended by Henry Castro, who is importing immigrants to populate his planned city, Castroville." "At Castro's urging, Joseph reluctantly agrees to marry a young Alsatian girl to save her from a Comanche chief who has demanded her. Then Joseph encounters Aurelia and becomes obsessed with her." "Comanches, Tonkaways, Mexican vaqueros, immigrant farmers and runaway slaves play a part in Joseph's rebirth as a rancher. But when a renegade band of Texas Rangers descends upon the ranch, everything is altered."-JACKET.

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