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Reviewed by Kimberlee J Benart for Readers' Favorite
Written by Betty Willis, whose own great-great-grandfather immigrated from Germany to Galveston and for whom the main protagonist is named, Texas Quest follows the adventures of Christian, a young man who illegally departs from Germany with the help of his impoverished parents to avoid military conscription. On board a crowded, rat-infested ship, Christian encounters Otto, a childhood friend who was conscripted but has deserted to seek a new life. Christian also meets women who are “mail order brides” for men in Texas. Among them is Lena, the runaway daughter of a drunken farmer, who saw no possibility for happiness if she remained in Germany. Life-threatening challenges will face these three both on the journey and after their arrival. Will they survive and find the life and love they seek in a land so different from the one they left?
Texas Quest is a tale of German immigration to Texas in the 1870s that portrays the everyday dangers, risks, living conditions, and eventual rewards faced by these immigrants as they settled in post-Civil War Texas to build new lives in a new world. Christian and Otto are young men of admirable and trustworthy character who seek opportunities for prosperity that Europe could never give them. Lena is unconventional for a young woman. Forced by her father’s alcoholism to do “man’s work” on their farm, she possesses skills, courage, and intelligence uniquely suited to thrive in her new surroundings. All three are people of faith and hope. In Texas Quest, Betty Willis gives us an engaging, well-paced story.
