Reviewed by Tom Gauthier for Readers' Favorite

If Dances With Wolves were merged with Lonesome Dove and mixed with Days of Our Lives in the skilled hands of Syvila Weatherford, we would have Smoke On The Wind in all its glory. With respect for the Native American culture, sensitivity for the Black experience, Mexican culture, and the white man’s interaction with other cultures, Weatherford takes us into a world of love and respect, violence and bloodshed, bravery and cowardice, and romance and sensitivity, as only fine story telling can do. We follow Will Lawton, a young Black cowboy in his early twenties, working as a horse wrangler with dreams of having a homestead of his own with his young Choctaw bride, Niabi. We encounter Nashoba, the Choctaw who is Will’s rival for Niabi and ends up saving a wounded Will. The author skillfully takes us on a wild ride of characters and circumstances that move smoothly and rapidly across the pages for a truly enjoyable look into a life and time not usually offered with such insight and personal touch.

Set in the mid-1800s post slavery era in American history, Smoke in the Wind, the sequel to Blessing From the Four Winds, picks up at Will Lawton and Niabi’s wedding, and moves forward through perils, hardships, and perseverance in a wonderfully crafted story that Syvila Weatherford has drawn from her own family's history. Her ability to weave the experiences of the Black, Chinese, Native American, Mexican, and Caucasian characters into a single story of life experiences is laudable. The tale has romance, some sweet, some not so, as Weatherford interweaves settings like the courtship of the affable and independent schoolteacher Louisa Ortega by Federico, and of Catherine Applegate making a pass at the married Will. Cattle drives, land rushes, native villages, Mexican towns, characters high born and low born from different cultures, sweet moments and violent clashes, all are woven into a delicious offering by this talented writer.