A private chivalry : a novel

In the smoky twilight of Silverette, a lone piano drifts its tinkling notes across a mountain valley, while two men sit on a porch of an assayer’s cabin arguing over a vague, desperate mission. Their conversation hints at a life of gambling, honor, and a looming threat that could end with a single bullet, setting a tone of quiet tension that steadies the remote mining community.

George Brant recounts a tangled past that began with a mischievous college girl and spiraled into a marriage‑like entanglement with a woman who now plays that very piano in a dance hall. His confession reveals a brother turned outlaw, a cycle of betrayal, and a dangerous ledger of crimes that Brant has managed to keep hidden—until the present forces him back into the shadows of his own making.

The story opens with the clash between old loyalties and fresh peril, inviting listeners to follow Brant’s uneasy journey as he navigates love, family sins, and the thin line between redemption and ruin.