The Last Trail » (Unabridged)

Narrator Michael Prichard is a Los Angeles-based actor who has recorded more than 350 audiobooks including novels by Clive Cussler and Tom Glancy. He recently was named one of Smart Money's Top Ten Golden Voices.

The father of the western novel, Zane Grey (1872 - 1939) was born in Zanesville, Ohio. He wrote 58 westerns and almost 30 other books. Over 100 films have been based on his work.

"With anxiety, Mr. Sheppard, his nephew, and daughter set up camp in the gathering darkness. They were trying to reach Fort Henry before nightfall but lost their way in the shades of the forest. Their guide had mysteriously deserted them that morning. Suddenly, a band of Indians appeared at the edge of the firelight brandishing tomahawks. As quickly as they appeared, they disappeared. Moments later, a man clad in fringed buckskins silently slipped into the light of the campfire, and in the dim background of the firelight, stood another; waiting and watching. They were Jonathan Zane and Wetzel, the most feared Indian fighters on the border."

School Library Journal

YAHelen Sheppard and her father left Williamsburg, VA, to start a new life in the Ohio Valley. Her father's friend, Col. Ebenezer Zane, met them at Fort Henry after a terrifying close encounter with Indians that ended peacefully when two bordermen, Jonathan Zane and Lew Wetzel, stepped out of the forest to rescue them. Helen is intrigued by Jonathan Zane and he with her. As the story unfolds, this love affair mingles with the tale of the early days of the Ohio Valley. Indian resentment against the encroaching white men, an obsessive lover, horse rustlers, and plain folks trying to build homesteads out of the wilderness are brought to life by Grey's fine storytelling skills. This is a reprint of the last volume of the author's "Ohio River Trilogy," published in 1909; however, the book stands alone. An interesting foreword written by Grey's son, Loren, tells much about the writer. A good story that would make great historical fiction reading for an American-history assignment.Linda A. Vretos, West Springfield High School, Springfield, VA