Riders to Cibola: A Novel
Zollinger’s Golden Spur Award–winning first novel, originally published in 1977 but long out of print, returns. The story begins in 1900: Ignacio Ortiz, a young Mexican orphan, vows to cross the Rio Grande and find a life for himself in a new country. We follow him as he grows from boy into man, but it’s not just his story; it’s also the story of his adopted home in the first half of the twentieth century. It’s a time of massive upheavals—two world wars, the creation of entirely new social classes—and the author reflects thoses changes in Ignacio’s smaller world of the D Cross A ranch and the MacAndrews clan, his employers, friends, and adopted family. Readers who fondly remember the book will enjoy the chance to become reacquainted with Zollinger’s wonderful characters; first-time readers will plunge into it with both feet. It is a rich, memorable story not just about a boy’s transition to adulthood but also about the maturing of a country. This is a good choice for fans of literary westerns, but it also has definite crossover appeal to readers of general fiction. --David Pitt