It's 1836, and the Mexican province of Texas is in revolt. As General Santa Anna's forces move closer to the small fort that will soon be legend, three people's fates will become intrinsically tied to the coming battle: Edmund McGowan, a proud and gifted naturalist; the widowed innkeeper Mary Mott; and her 16-year-old son, Terrell, whose first experience with love has led him into the line of fire. In Stephen Harrigan's epic, these figures will cross paths with James Bowie and Davy Crockett, as the clock ticks toward a showdown with Santa Anna. "An artful, intelligent novel…. Harrigan writes beautifully of the Texas landscape, and beautifully of the failures of the human heart."—Boston Globe