Beneath The Shining Mountains is set during the 1830s in North America, on the lands of the Apsaroke. It opens with the heroine, Moon Hawk, who is restless. She hopes Winter Man, a Good Man of the Apsaroke and member of the dashing Fox warrior clan, will bring horses to her father in exchange for her hand in marriage. She and her mother devise a way to snare Winter Man's interest, but Moon Hawk has another suitor and he is less than honourable or good...

Beneath The Shining Mountains takes the reader into the world of the Apsaroke. I loved learning about their customs and rich culture, and seeing the land through their eyes. It is an epic, heroic world, where wealth is measured in horses and warriors win pride and honour by the dangerous sport of stealing horses from rival peoples.

Winter Man and Moon Hawk are well matched, both proud and brave, and both spar and tease each other in their courtship. Theirs is a testing path to love and an exciting one, full of adventure and incident. The feelings of both young people are sympathetically revealed and realistically shown and I was enthralled throughout.

I look forward to reading more of Linda Acaster's work.