Overland: A Novel

In the waning light of a dusty Santa Fe, the town clings to its 270‑year history like a sun‑baked brick façade. Few than five thousand souls live among narrow, irregular streets, and most travelers use the place only as a brief stop before pressing onward across the continent. Into this quiet despondency arrive two striking women: Clara Muñoz Garcia Van Diemen, a young beauty whose mixed Teutonic and Latin features set her apart, and her aunt, Maria Stanley, a sturdy, forty‑seven‑year‑old who moves with a manly gait and speaks with a blunt, philosophical edge.

Maria’s sharp eyes have already caught the whisper of a vanished fortune, a puzzle that seems to involve a deceitful relative and a hidden danger. As Clara listens to her aunt’s spirited pronouncements, she is pulled into a web of family secrets and the restless energy of a town on the brink of change. Their uneasy alliance promises a forward‑moving adventure that will test both wit and courage.