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Paint the Wind
Born Françoise Deverell of the Deverells of Louisiana, everyone calls her Fancy. In one night of blood and tears her past will vanish and she will begin an unforgettable journey of the heart.
Too beautiful to be innocent, she will be swept into the relentless rhythms of a nation hungry for adventure. Her fortune is bound to the West...untamed, dangerous, and golden with promise. A woman able to steal away a man's breath -- and his reason -- she wants more than love. She wants passion, power, and all the wealth of her dreams. And Fancy Deverell is riding hell-for-leather to have it.
Too beautiful to be innocent, she will be swept into the relentless rhythms of a nation hungry for adventure. Her fortune is bound to the West...untamed, dangerous, and golden with promise. A woman able to steal away a man's breath -- and his reason -- she wants more than love. She wants passion, power, and all the wealth of her dreams. And Fancy Deverell is riding hell-for-leather to have it.
814 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Cathy Cash Spellman
21 books278 followersCathy Cash Spellman is a best-selling author of multiple books that have been on The New York Times Bestseller List and International Bestseller lists, in both hardcover and paperback. Bless the Child became a Paramount movie starring Kim Basinger and Jimmy Smits, and has developed a cult following since it's Paramount release in 2000. Cathy's books have been sold in 22 countries.
Cathy was born to two parents who loved to read and filled their home with books and poetry. The small town in which she grew up had a library that was a small castle, brought over stone by stone from Europe, and gifted to the town by a benefactor, replete with suits of armor, stained glass windows and a round tower that held the classics. It was to this fairytale place that Cathy biked every afternoon after school to immerse herself in stories and to dream of one day seeing her own books on the shelves of such a magical place.
Born with a caul, the Irish harbinger of Second Sight, Cathy has always been an ardent student and practitioner of multiple esoteric disciplines: astrology, metaphysics, and a wide variety of healing modalities including Qi Gung, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Cranio Sacral Therapy, Homeopathy, and spiritual healing. She holds Black Belt rank in Goju-Ryu Karate has had the joy and privilege of studying with shamans, healers, Native American medicine men and women, a Jain saint and a Tibetan High Lama.
If you'd like to learn more about her adventurous life, Cathy invites you to visit her website at www.cathycashspellman.com
Cathy was born to two parents who loved to read and filled their home with books and poetry. The small town in which she grew up had a library that was a small castle, brought over stone by stone from Europe, and gifted to the town by a benefactor, replete with suits of armor, stained glass windows and a round tower that held the classics. It was to this fairytale place that Cathy biked every afternoon after school to immerse herself in stories and to dream of one day seeing her own books on the shelves of such a magical place.
Born with a caul, the Irish harbinger of Second Sight, Cathy has always been an ardent student and practitioner of multiple esoteric disciplines: astrology, metaphysics, and a wide variety of healing modalities including Qi Gung, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Cranio Sacral Therapy, Homeopathy, and spiritual healing. She holds Black Belt rank in Goju-Ryu Karate has had the joy and privilege of studying with shamans, healers, Native American medicine men and women, a Jain saint and a Tibetan High Lama.
If you'd like to learn more about her adventurous life, Cathy invites you to visit her website at www.cathycashspellman.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
October 3, 2008
(4.5) The story of one woman and the two brothers who loved her in Colorado's Cloud City. What fun and darn near unputdownable! Paint the Wind begins as ten year old Fancy Deverell's parents are murdered and their Louisiana plantation burned by marauding Yankee soldiers. Loyal slave Atticus saves Fancy from the destruction and with no other family left he takes Fancy along as they head west for a better life. After being on the road for a couple of years they meet up with a motley group of misfits in a circus run by Wes Jarvis and the spooky gypsy Magda. After several years on the road the circus disbands and Fancy and Atticus once again head west, but Atticus's health fails them in the Mosquito Mountains of Colorado and Fancy is left on her own as a deadly snow storm hits and she takes a tumble down a mountain side.....
Meanwhile the story switches to that of brothers Chance and Hart McAllister who leave their Kansas home behind at the death of their parents and head west to Colorado where they meet gunman Ford Jameson and miner Bandana McBain. Bandana takes the boys in as partners digging for silver in the mountains surrounding Oro City (soon to be Leadville when the silver boom hits), and on the way home to their mountain cabin Chance spots a bit of red cloth and a banjo sticking out of the snow and a near-frozen Fancy is rescued in the nick of time. Fancy spends the winter snowbound with the boys and stays the summer working the mine with them, as both brothers fall in love with the beauteous Fancy -- but she can only chose one – will it be the reckless, gambling, womanizing live on the seat of your pants Chance or the steadfast and faithful Hart?
Desperate not to come between the brothers and longing to establish herself as an actress Fancy leaves the boys and after a wild auction to raise money for her grub stake she heads for New York City. Once there, she struggles to support herself and her daughter, and eventually accepts an offer she can't refuse from ruthless businessman Jason Madigan. Fancy's travels finally bring her back to Leadville and the McAllister brothers, now rich from their silver mine and she can only marry one of the two brothers and a heart broken Jason begins his plot to bankrupt the man who took Fancy from him.
Well that's about all of the story I’m going to tell, there's a whole lot more to Fancy's tale in this 800 page paperback that will keep you reading well into the wee hours. The story of Fancy and the McAllister brothers takes the reader through heartache, treachery, great wealth, financial disaster, and more until it finally culminates in a daring escape from a remote insane asylum in the Rocky Mountains along with a delightful sting to catch the baddies who done Fancy wrong worthy of Newman and Redford.
All in all a near perfect read and a jolly good yarn, my only quibbles are that I did find some of the secondary characters to be a bit stereotyped -- the Madam with the heart of Gold, Ford the gunslinger, Wu the Chinaman, the circus folks -- along with a few bits of language that didn't quite seem to fit the period. If you're willing to set those minor issues aside and want to sit back and lose yourself in the past with a big sprawling epic of soap opera proportions set in the old west, this is one book well worth looking in to. 4.5/5 stars.
Meanwhile the story switches to that of brothers Chance and Hart McAllister who leave their Kansas home behind at the death of their parents and head west to Colorado where they meet gunman Ford Jameson and miner Bandana McBain. Bandana takes the boys in as partners digging for silver in the mountains surrounding Oro City (soon to be Leadville when the silver boom hits), and on the way home to their mountain cabin Chance spots a bit of red cloth and a banjo sticking out of the snow and a near-frozen Fancy is rescued in the nick of time. Fancy spends the winter snowbound with the boys and stays the summer working the mine with them, as both brothers fall in love with the beauteous Fancy -- but she can only chose one – will it be the reckless, gambling, womanizing live on the seat of your pants Chance or the steadfast and faithful Hart?
Desperate not to come between the brothers and longing to establish herself as an actress Fancy leaves the boys and after a wild auction to raise money for her grub stake she heads for New York City. Once there, she struggles to support herself and her daughter, and eventually accepts an offer she can't refuse from ruthless businessman Jason Madigan. Fancy's travels finally bring her back to Leadville and the McAllister brothers, now rich from their silver mine and she can only marry one of the two brothers and a heart broken Jason begins his plot to bankrupt the man who took Fancy from him.
Well that's about all of the story I’m going to tell, there's a whole lot more to Fancy's tale in this 800 page paperback that will keep you reading well into the wee hours. The story of Fancy and the McAllister brothers takes the reader through heartache, treachery, great wealth, financial disaster, and more until it finally culminates in a daring escape from a remote insane asylum in the Rocky Mountains along with a delightful sting to catch the baddies who done Fancy wrong worthy of Newman and Redford.
All in all a near perfect read and a jolly good yarn, my only quibbles are that I did find some of the secondary characters to be a bit stereotyped -- the Madam with the heart of Gold, Ford the gunslinger, Wu the Chinaman, the circus folks -- along with a few bits of language that didn't quite seem to fit the period. If you're willing to set those minor issues aside and want to sit back and lose yourself in the past with a big sprawling epic of soap opera proportions set in the old west, this is one book well worth looking in to. 4.5/5 stars.
July 19, 2020
I first read this book almost 30 years ago. Time has not diminished the power of this book and it is definitely still a 5-star read. It is a long, sprawling saga whose main character is Fancy Deverell. The story centers around her, the three men who love her, and the many people she meets along the journey of her lifetime. It is over 700 pages but well worth the time. Many stories are told along the way and they have everything the reader could ask for, good and bad. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted. I would highly recommend this book to those who liked the Lonesome Dove saga by Larry McMurtry and Heart of the West by Penelope Williamson or anyone who enjoys long sagas set (mostly) in the west.
July 8, 2012
Fancy is rescued from her parents' burning Louisiana mansion by Atticus, a slave and treks west where she will meet the McAllister brothers; farm boys orphaned by diphtheria and hoping to make their fortune by digging for gold.. The relationships between these three and the assortment of exotic friends made along the way form the core of this panoramic novel which crosses America several times and takes in the worlds of the Circus, Theatre, Art, Mining, Geronimo and the Apaches, The Paris art world and much more.
This book ate my life for four days. It defeated my expectations time and again; I was gripped and did not want to put it down. We were away from home but I read it every minute I could do so politely and probably quite a few when it would have been more polite to put it down. It's been a while since any book grabbed me quite so hard and for this reason I am giving it five stars even though it is by no means a perfect book.
I often complain about the blandness, sterility and lack of invention in much current literature so it goes against the grain to say this but I think this book has a few too many characters, goes a few too many places. It's a seething rich stew but the flavour might have been improved and refined by a little restraint with the ingredients. Having said that, I would be hard pressed to choose who to lose between say, Magda, the Gypsy seer and Jewel the gun-toting madam, or between Gitalis, the theatrical dwarf and Ford Hamilton the outlaw. Some cutbacks might have made this a finer novel but maybe not a better read.
I'll never get those four days back and that's just fine.
This book ate my life for four days. It defeated my expectations time and again; I was gripped and did not want to put it down. We were away from home but I read it every minute I could do so politely and probably quite a few when it would have been more polite to put it down. It's been a while since any book grabbed me quite so hard and for this reason I am giving it five stars even though it is by no means a perfect book.
I often complain about the blandness, sterility and lack of invention in much current literature so it goes against the grain to say this but I think this book has a few too many characters, goes a few too many places. It's a seething rich stew but the flavour might have been improved and refined by a little restraint with the ingredients. Having said that, I would be hard pressed to choose who to lose between say, Magda, the Gypsy seer and Jewel the gun-toting madam, or between Gitalis, the theatrical dwarf and Ford Hamilton the outlaw. Some cutbacks might have made this a finer novel but maybe not a better read.
I'll never get those four days back and that's just fine.
January 10, 2015
Starting at the end of the American Civil War and spanning thirty years, this sweeping epic could have been called Gone With The Wind Goes West.
At its core are feisty determined Fancy, loyal loving Hart and reckless ambitious Chance - one girl, two brothers and a love triangle that would last three lifetimes. Set against a backdrop of wild mountains, gold and silver mining, the Apache, bawdy saloons and whorehouses, and gun-toting madams and outlaws, with every emotion from love, lust and heartache, to sacrifice, loyalty, treachery and tragedy, this saga has it all.
I thought it could have done with an edit in a few places, and from the midway point I desperately hoped we wouldn't get the ending that we did, but niggles n' all, all I wanted to do when I was reading it was curl up in my armchair, lose myself in another world and only come up for air after the final page!
At its core are feisty determined Fancy, loyal loving Hart and reckless ambitious Chance - one girl, two brothers and a love triangle that would last three lifetimes. Set against a backdrop of wild mountains, gold and silver mining, the Apache, bawdy saloons and whorehouses, and gun-toting madams and outlaws, with every emotion from love, lust and heartache, to sacrifice, loyalty, treachery and tragedy, this saga has it all.
I thought it could have done with an edit in a few places, and from the midway point I desperately hoped we wouldn't get the ending that we did, but niggles n' all, all I wanted to do when I was reading it was curl up in my armchair, lose myself in another world and only come up for air after the final page!
July 11, 2011
I read this book many years ago and just loved it. It swept me up in the story and I cried and laughed and ached when it was over. I have since read it out loud to my husband as we drove across country and he loved it as well. It's been about 15 years since then and I am almost nervous to reread it...wondering if I will love it just as much now or if I will be disappointed. Still, I recommend it it wholeheartedly to anyone who loves a good romance in a western setting.
June 9, 2009
This is my one of my ALL-TIME favorite books!! I have read it probably 5 times in the last 10 years. It's full of lush, full-bodied characters and everyone gets to "put their two cents in." I love, love, love this book and have owned 3 different copies of it in my life!
June 7, 2013
perhaps my very all time favorite book. drama, romance, suspence, fun.
I laughed out loud and cried.
I was so sorry when it was over.
I tried to read another book by the author though and didnt enjoy.
I laughed out loud and cried.
I was so sorry when it was over.
I tried to read another book by the author though and didnt enjoy.
May 25, 2022
I was so here for this yee-haw time.
Shelved as 'maybe'
August 4, 2021Need safety spoilers pls...
Read
January 30, 2021One of my all time favourites, read long before Goodreads was a thing! Quite possibly the only book I have read more than once!
October 22, 2018
So many reviews of this book begin with "this is my favorite book of all time!", so I had to read it. I love sweeping, epic tomes and while it is that, what I didn't really pick up from other reviews (and wish I had) is that this book rips your heart out time and time again, over and over and over! It's one heart-rendering, horrific tragedy after another! There are many places that are terribly hard to read, very graphic, that leave haunting, disturbing images burned into your brain. By around page 500 or so, I began doing a lot of skimming. I loved the characters and I was so invested in it by this point, that I had to see how it ended but I REALLY NEEDED IT TO END! I'm giving it 3 stars because of the times I said out loud: "Oh no...." after tragedy after tragedy continued to unfold. Some people like "good" tragedies. I'm not one of those. After this book, I need to go watch some kitten videos or cartoons or something.
October 20, 2008
I can not count how many times I have read this book. It is one of the few books I read more than once. The first time I read it, it took me over a year to get through the first chapter, I was that "not into" it. It is my "comfort book", similar to mashed potatos. I reccomend it to everyone for the last 13=14 years, to my knowledge, not a single taker! It is historical fiction, great for those who loved Lonesome Dove, etc.
August 27, 2012
I am NOT known for my love of romance novels, but this is one book I've kept on my shelf for years and have read over and over. It's a true epic, a la Gone With The Wind, spanning the lifetime of the three main characters.
Paint The Wind is dramatic, heartbreaking, and so emotionally gripping. It's a story you don't ever want to end. You may even finish the last page and flip right back to the beginning and start all over again. Recommended. :)
Paint The Wind is dramatic, heartbreaking, and so emotionally gripping. It's a story you don't ever want to end. You may even finish the last page and flip right back to the beginning and start all over again. Recommended. :)
June 2, 2012
I'm so glad I kept this book, first read in 1989 when it came out. What an epic!! I did enjoy the characters so much and their journeys through all their adventures kept me hooked all the way through. I was going to give it away after reading it again, and have decided to keep it and read it again 10 or 20 years down the road!!
August 31, 2013
This is one of my go to books..... I have read it so many times I've lost count. I can't put my finger on what it is that always brings me back to it but it is always in the back of my mind to pick it up so that I don't forget the story. Fancy is my heroine ;)
December 28, 2011
My all-time favorite book. Such a great romance. CSS is an amazing author.
October 5, 2012
Read this awhile ago and can still remember the character's names and love triangle. This was my first romance novel...would read it again.
January 23, 2014
this is my absolute favorite book ever. I have read it 4 times and I am planning on reading it again soon.
May 15, 2014
My all time favorite novel!
January 8, 2015
Best book I've ever read. It's one of those books you can't stop thinking about after you're finished with it and you know you'll read it multiple times.
January 17, 2015
I read this book about 7 years ago. I have never forgotten it. It is a powerful story about a strong woman.
February 3, 2015
All time favorite. Read this book many years ago , I would HIGHLY recommend it !!!
May 8, 2020
Yaaaas, I love this old book. It's still cringe-worthy and jam-bam-packed with tropes and about every Western novel/movie cliche in existence, but it's a damn fun read. Perfect for the bathtub with a glass of wine. I fucking love Magda and her crystals and crystal balls and over the top accent. I love Jewel Mack and her whorehouses and her aplomb and her drive and red hair. Of course her hair is red. And wild. What the fuck else could it possibly be?? I love Ford and Chance and Bandana and Dakota and Gitalis. I love Hart and his blind devotion to a manipulative and enormously selfish, we're talking planet-sized levels of selfishness, but of course stunningly beautiful woman-child-saint-whore-doll-opera singer-actress-businesswoman-wife-mother-bitch. Of course everyone wants Fancy, either to be her or be with her. Fancy is so selfish and self-absorbed it's not even funny but you still love reading about her. Hart is sickeningly, annoyingly good and true and Chance is hot and sexy and the one you really root for, even though you know right away it's supposed to be Hart you're rooting for. Yawn. I understand why Aurora hates her mother. WHO WOULDN'T? I do believe Fancy redeems herself near the end - but it's such a fun ride to get there, through many years and troubles and costume changes. Lots of action/hard riding, both indoor and outdoor, plenty of danger and magic and theater troupes and gold/silver mining and horses. Even a stint with Geronimo and his kin. You will love this book even as you laugh your ass off over about half of it.
August 4, 2017
Here's a book that's impossible to put down. The setting is the American past thirty years after the Civil War. Its amazing heroine, Fancy, escapes from her burned home in Louisiana. With grit and determination, she seeks romance, fame, and fortune. She meets with a wide panoply of interesting characters including two brothers , a dashing gambler, and a wealthy wheeler and dealer, all of whom fall in love with her. There's a mysterious gypsy, a clever dwarf, a wise Chinese savant, and many others to guide her along the way. Each has their own story. The plot twists and turns, the characters are fascinating, and the reader is impelled to know her fate and the lover she finally chooses. I recommend this for anyone seeking immersion in another, braver world.
May 21, 2023
I do love epic historical family sagas. And this was a saga - but I have to be honest and say that the only character I really loved was Hart. I found Fancy to be a self-centered, selfish woman who used people and then expected everyone to be at her service when she got herself into trouble. She was not there for her children - they were MIA for most of the book. Chance was likeable, but I think I would have liked him more if he had just been a little smarter. The story reminds me of all the old cheesy dramas from the 80s - Dynasty, Dallas, etc. Glad I read it, though it could have been so much better.
April 22, 2018
Fairly decent potboiler saga. At times, Spellman's Fancy character becomes a bit of a Mary-Sue and there's the obligatory love triangle between her and two brothers, plus some of the plot threads felt contrived (and occasionally outlandish). The first half of the book moves rather slowly, then the second half moves pretty fast...almost too fast in some spots. Spellman might've edited some of the beginning bits down and expanded more on Fancy's later life for better interest. Still, I was in the mood for a good potboiler and this fit the bill.
August 18, 2018
To survive, Fancy must learn what it takes for a woman to climb from poverty to fame and fortune in a universe that belongs to the ruthless and the male. Before she's through, there isn't much that Fancy won't have done, or bargained, or sold for her dreams...and the price of her deliverance. For Paint The Wind is first and last the story of feisty, tempestuous, and vulnerable Fancy Deverell.
This is an awesome read. I have spent day trying to Denver the name of it so I can refer it to friends into the genre of Romance & Westerns. I am glad I found it so that others can discover Fancy.
This is an awesome read. I have spent day trying to Denver the name of it so I can refer it to friends into the genre of Romance & Westerns. I am glad I found it so that others can discover Fancy.
August 17, 2019
One of my favorite books! I've read it three times since it was published. A delightful portrayal of the Wild West. I've laughed and weeped each time I read it, I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to get lost in the Wild West in the comfort of their home.
You will want to read more than once. A great escape from everyday life into 1800s Wild West life, very engaging.
You will want to read more than once. A great escape from everyday life into 1800s Wild West life, very engaging.
February 16, 2020
I could not put this book down. The characters come alive and you feel their emotions as Cathy unravels the beautiful story with so many twists and turns. And there is so much rich history learned about the western lands of Colorado and the times after the Civil War as the the story unfolds. A wonderful read for everyone.
I love historical fiction and this is one of the best I have read. What courage these brave people displayed to help make America.
I love historical fiction and this is one of the best I have read. What courage these brave people displayed to help make America.
October 31, 2017
A tale full of heartache and sorrow. So many other books make life out to be a fantastically perfect thing where everything goes right. This is not that. I have read other far greater books, each great in its own way. If for no other reason but the sorrow, sadness and the reality that is life, I give it five stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews