Robin Gainey’s second novel is a story of two dynamic nineteenth century women, each with a unique style. Light of the Nothern Dancers follows fiery aristocrat, Eden Rose, uprooted from her native Scotland, who has tended a foundering marriage and failing ranch at the corner of Crazy Woman Creek and the Powder River for a decade. Best friend, backwoods spitfire Maddie True, has her own woes a few miles away: widowed with a passel of children and caretaker to her addled father. Abandoned by her husband during the height of Wyoming Territory’s worst drought in history, Eden depends on her inept brother, Aiden, to see her through the coming winter. But when he disappears into the wild Bighorn mountains, she shuns Maddie’s fearful cautions, teaming with enigmatic Lakota Holy Man, Intah, to find him before the wicked snow holds them all hostage. Guided by spirit and love, their lives are transformed.
Robin Gainey partnered in creating California’s Gainey Vineyard; presided over their culinary programs; and, with Julia Child, founded Santa Barbara’s American Institute of Wine and Food. She also oversaw the breeding and showing of champion Arabian Horses begun by the Gainey Family in 1939. She’s lived in California, Colorado, Washington, and Rome, Italy. She returned to her hometown, Seattle, to find her heart in writing. Active trustee of the acclaimed, Pacific Northwest Ballet, she enjoys reading, cooking, horseback riding, skiing any mountain, and spending three months every year cruising the wild Canadian Inside Passage aboard her boat—mostly alone.