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Shadow of an Indian Star is an epic novel which chronicles three generations of a brawling pioneer family, their friends and enemies, and the women who helped battle tragedy, corruption, and their own inner demons to save themselves and the Chickasaw Nation from annihilation.In 1825, 16-year-old Smith Paul runs away from a broken North Carolina home, is adopted into the Chickasaw tribe, and travels the infamous Trail of Tears to Indian Territory with his adopted family, Rev. McClure and his captivating Chickasaw bride, Ala-Teecha. There, Smith rediscovers the rich, pristine valley between two rivers he had encountered years before as a scout. Out of raw wilderness, he forges Smith Paul's Valley where he vows that whites, Indians, and blacks will be treated equally. Torn between love and honor, Ala-Teecha remains a pillar of strength as she and Smith fight their forbidden love for each other.Charismatic Sam Paul, Smith's half-breed son, rides with his own renegade posse, including former Billy the Kid sidekick Fred Waite. Sam is brought before ?hanging judge? Parker for murder three times before he's finally convicted on manslaughter. His stint in jail opens his eyes to the greed of white men and he returns home determined to rescue Indian Territory from impending white encroachment. Sam's insatiable lust earns him a libertine reputation until he meets the one woman who can sequester his fiery passion, the spirited Jennie Tolbert ? the only woman Sam Paul ever truly loved.Sam makes deadly enemies as he rises to political power, but no one bears him as much hatred as his neglected, bitter son, Joe Paul, who possesses all the Pauls? passionate fire and none of his father/s charisma nor his grandmother's visionary fair-mindedness. Jealousy drives Joe to seduce Jennie, igniting a bitter feud between father and son. One woman believes she can tame the desperate Joe Paul, brawny Maulsey Stewart, but Joe is already on a one-way path to self-destruction.Today, the reborn Chickasaw Nation is thriving, and the Paul family rests in peace in Pauls Valley's old cemetery around which so much turmoil swirled for decades.