Ruth Hanson

America, 1887. In a country healing from the horrors of the Civil War, the American West has never been more treacherous. Evil men do as they please, and the often faulty and corrupt justice system does little to nothing to help their victims. Enter the Railwalkers. Bandits whose only goal is to punish those whom the law has allowed to walk free. Some think they're an 28 legend, meant to scare would-be criminals into submission. Some see them as no different than the murderers they kill, while to others, they are angels of mercy. To Violet Donovan, they are family. Growing up as the sole heiress to the sizable Donovan estate, Violet's place of privilege allowed her wild spirit to flourish. Despite the pressures of her sex -- find a husband, stay pretty, have children, be subservient, don't speak out of line -- Violet is passionate, loud, stubborn, and untamed. However, at the ripe, marriageable age of twenty, Violet faces the fact that she may have to give in to her mother's wishes and marry mean, ugly Eustace Carpenter, the only other family name in their little town with comparable worth. But Violet's life changes forever when she is saved from an attacker by a strange woman. A woman who, like Violet, doesn't exactly fit the mold. Unfortunately Violet gets mixed up in a murder charge and has to leave everything she knows for a life on the run from the law. Through divine intervention, she and the woman cross paths again, and Violet comes to know her and her comrades. They are Mei Wong, Linus Cooper, Sitting Bear, and Rory McNab. The infamous Railwalker gang.

The Railwalkers

“Miss Violet?” Rory caught her attention and she looked down. He stared at her, his eyes rimmed with the kind of honesty only found on the faces of little children. “We won’t let nothin’ bad happen to you. So you don’t have to be scared, all right?”


As the sun washed over them both, Violet felt that pit in her stomach ease just a touch. She smiled with a tender nod. “I believe you,” she said. They lingered in silence a moment longer. “Rory? How’d you find the Railwalkers anyway?”


“Oh, I was asleep in a train car when I was found.” Rory stood and started eating his berries, meandering through the field mindlessly. “Though I can’t remember much. I was little.”


“Mmmm.” Rory swayed on his feet, his lips now stained with red juice. “‘Unno…Four? I fink? Yeah, four.”


“You was sleepin’ on a train car when you were four?” Violet couldn’t help her horror. “Where was your parents? Your family?”


Chapter 32