The Turquoise (novel)

"The Turquoise" is a historical novel published by author Anya Seton in 1946.

Plot summary

Born in 1850 of a Spanish mother and a Scotsman in New Mexico and orphaned at a young age in the town for whom she was named, Santa Fe (Fey) Cameron is taken in and raised by dutiful but apathetic neighbors. As a teenager, she takes the opportunity to leave town with Terry Dillon, a traveling salesman of "Doctor Xavier T. Dillon's Extra Special Elixir," and as they slowly make their way back east, convinces herself they are in love. Not disagreeable (for the time being), Terry enlists a local authority to marry them at Raton Pass on the Santa Fe Trail. Continuing east selling Terry's questionable medicine and utilizing several of Fey's talents to earn extra money, upon reaching Leavenworth, Kansas, they are able to raise train fares to New York.

Fey and Terry arrive in New York City without any prospects and are soon forced to use up their small savings for food and board. Not surprisingly, Terry abandons Fey for greener pastures before long. Discovering she is pregnant, Fey seeks assistance at a local infirmary for women and makes arrangements to live there in exchange for helping out with the work. After her daughter Lucita is born, Fey sets her eyes on New York tycoon Simeon Tower as a means of securing her financial future and successfully wins her way into his heart.

After securing a discreet divorce for Fey, she and Simeon marry and achieve happiness. They endeavor to increase not only their fortune but their social standing over the years, but the year 1877 would be their downfall. Simeon not only finds himself close to losing nearly everything financially, but Terry Dillon reemerges to disrupt their lives. Terry's attempts to woo Fey and blackmail Simeon result in tragedy. Bankrupt and a social pariah, Fey eventually brings an ailing Simeon back to the simple life in New Mexico to live out their days.

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776653,00.html?iid=chix-sphere 1946 review of "The Turquoise" in Time Magazine]