When I read Heart of the West for the first time three years ago, I was not aware that I had a romance in my hands. Nor did I expect to become so engrossed in the book that I could not think of anything else for days. Re-reading it again for this review only confirmed my opinion that this is one of the best books ever written.

Admittedly, I am always spellbound by a tragic love story that begins under less than favorable circumstances, but against all the odds is eventually resolved in a thoroughly happy ending. I also love books of epic proportions which demand your full emotional commitment and make you feel all the joys, sorrows and dreams of the characters as if you were inside of them. This is why I enjoyed Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Kathryn Lynn Davis’ Too Deep for Tears so much. Heart of the West is actually quite similar in its grand scale, its powerful, evocative prose and its rich portraits of characters and setting.

The central character of Heart of the West is Clementine Kennicutt. She has been raised a prim and proper Boston lady, but she longs to escape the many social strictures and the tyrannical rule of her pious father, who desperately tries to break her independent spirit. Secretly she dreams about a cowboy who will take her away from the stuffy atmosphere of New England drawing rooms and show her a whole new world.

Gus McQueen, who looks just like the cowboy of her dreams, quite literally sweeps her off her feet when he runs her over with his bicycle. On the spur of the moment, she decides to elope with him to his ranch in Montana. Her first impressions of the West, however, are disillusioning: the town of Rainbow Springs is no more than a scattering of crude shacks, her own home is a little hovel in the middle of the prairie, and the inhabitants of the town are estranged by her genteel manners. Gus’s brother, Zach Rafferty, seems appalled by the idea that Gus has brought home a wife – one who, in his opinion, will not endure the hard life on the frontier past the first snowfall.

The first time Clementine sets eyes on Zach, she is both fascinated and frightened by his blatant masculinity. Zach is just the opposite of her husband: Gus has always been the golden boy and was brought up in the East after their mother left their father. Zach, the hellraiser, who is as untamable as the land, was raised by his ne’er-do-well father, Jack McQueen.

At first sight, Zach appears appears to be simply an arrogant and ruthless young man, but as the story progresses we get more and more insight into his mind and realize that under all his male bravado, he hides his vulnerability, his longing for love and a home he never had. Especially when he is with Clementine, Zach can reveal his true self. They are both frightened by the feelings that are growing between them and the irresistible attraction that flares up whenever they are together. While Gus idealizes Clem and cherishes her for what he deems her innocence and purity, Zach sees the passionate woman in her who does not want to be put on a pedestal. Gus is a warm-hearted, sensitive man, and Clementine loves him, but there is a part of her that only belongs to Zach. He is her true soulmate, and only he can fill the empty places in her heart.

Although the love plot is strong and the emotions run deep, Heart of the West goes beyond the confines of romance. It is also a wonderful epic saga which spans twelve years, from 1879 to 1891, and which portrays the lives of typical (and not so typical) pioneers, while authentically depicting the harshness of frontier life.

So much happens in this long book, it is impossible to sum it up in a review. Still, the novel is close to my heart because of the love story between Clementine and Zach. It is a love that takes years to be consummated – they never commit adultery. At one point, Zach leaves the ranch for seven long years, but even then, their yearning for each other is palpable. He is so special because he is able to admit his love and never stops loving Clementine. Hardly ever have I awaited a reunion and love scene so impatiently, but it was worth the wait: when they finally do make love, it was one of the most intense, most erotic and most moving love scenes I have ever read.

Those two are made for each other. As Clem’s friend says: “It was as if they weren’t two separate hearts and souls, but one heart, one soul, that had somehow been ripped apart and forced to spend eternity searching for their missing halves, and now they had found themselves in each other.” Rarely have I read about such a deep and abiding love.

Heart of the West made me weep, turned me inside out, broke my heart and put it back together again. In the end I felt whole and regenerated, and was glad to have undergone this journey into another time and place and into the lives of these unforgettable characters.