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Dear Reader,

Grand Canyon National Park is famous for its beauty and the river that carved it, the Colorado. The word “canyon,” however, is deceptive. Even “Grand” doesn’t adequately describe its abundance of life and land mass, its history and ancient culture.

As a child, I grew up walking the Colorado’s beds and tributaries high in the Rocky Mountains, searching for gold nuggets. That treasured ore is long gone, but the Colorado River now provides new treasure—irrigation and electricity for the Southwest. This means supporting mega-farms, huge crop fields and cities with increasing populations—but modernization has a price.

Sadly, the millennia-old flow into the Gulf of California has disappeared in the past seventy-five years. Long before reaching the sea, the empty riverbed turns to dust. The overconsumption of this now-clear river threatens almost a third of North America’s ecosystems, while water and power rights representing billions of dollars are fought in national international courts. The Colorado has replaced the Nile as the most heavily litigated river in the world.

I have taken certain liberties in my story. My description of flooding in the present-day Grand Canyon National Park is now impossible. I have resurrected the “Rogue” Colorado of fifty years ago, before modern technology “tamed” it.

The Hopi believe the Grand Canyon is a Sipapu—a sacred place where “The People” emerged to enter the beautiful Southwest. My hero and heroine share this deep respect for the outdoors—and each other. Welcome to the grandest canyon in the world!

And be sure to visit my website, www.paperbackgems.com.

Anne Marie Duquette