The Engine Woman's Light

Spirits watch over Juanita. But who is she? A mystic in love who holds life sacred? Or a ghost-possessed railroad saboteur?

In 1894, a mystical vision of an airship appears to fifteen-year-old Juanita. The ethereal captain commands her to prevent California’s thrown-away people—including young children—from boarding trains to an asylum. That institution’s director plots murder to reduce the inmate population. Yet to save innocent lives Juanita must take lives of the corrupt. How can she reconcile her assignment with her belief in the sacredness of all human life? And will she survive to marry her betrothed?

Juanita sets out despite inner trepidation to sabotage the railroad. Her ancestor Billy, a steam locomotive engineer, guides her. Then bit by bit, she discovers the gut-wrenching truths all of her ancestors neglected to reveal.

Come visit Juanita’s world—an alternate and dystopian nineteenth-century California—where spirits meet steampunk, where both love and anger emanate from beyond the grave.

© 2019 Sand Hill Review Press (Audiobook): 9781949534122

Release date

Audiobook: October 17, 2019