Prickly Pear: A Story of Old Las Vegas; Volume I of the Meadows Series

In May 1905, Lily Johnston impulsively leaves her pampered city life behind to travel to the nascent town of Las Vegas, Nevada. After her husband's death, crippling panic attacks have plagued her. Belief that reuniting with her daughter, Andy, will make them stop motivates her to board a train and head into the desert. Once there, the austere conditions and harsh climate of the tent town convince her that she must take her pregnant daughter home in order to save her life. When Andy refuses to leave, Lily decides the only way to keep her safe is by living there temporarily. Life in the raucous Wild West town is appalling and dangerous with frequent gunfights and prostitutes parading in the streets. Refined and proper, Lily struggles to retain the principles that define her and make her feel secure. But the place and a friendship with a gambler, reputed to be a gunfighter, challenge her beliefs about everything, including herself.

Las Vegas is a town with a habit of obliterating its past. Houses are torn down and business districts spring up in their place. Implosions of famous casinos are celebrated with fanfare drawing huge crowds. The few examples of early architecture remaining have been remodeled to new identities. Without photographic evidence of the early days there would be nothing of Old Vegas left. But beneath the glitter and neon there lies a history of fierce determination on the part of the early settlers to make a habitable town out of stark desert, to fight against the odds to ensure their town would continue to grow and prosper, to defy the scorch and wind that drove many people away.


I am currently finishing a second volume on the Grayson and Prato families that follows the further development of Las Vegas and the surrounding area.  Conceived as a family saga, "The Meadows" series will follow the main characters and their descendents to the Las Vegas centennial in 2005.