Author Description

This epic novel recreates the complex and sometimes violent clash of cultures, dreams and ambitions that brought about the colonization of California. We follow the tumultuous love affair of a Chumash Indian girl and a Spanish soldier who meet in 1769. Into the lives of Lospe and Antonio, Easton weaves fascinating research on Indian culture and his own formidable knowledge and understanding of Old California. We experience Chumash village life as never before depicted-- the unscrupulous astrologer-priest, a pet condor, the homosexual who lays out the dead, the astronomy cave, the use of lizards and coyotes as messengers to the spirit world. We also gain new understanding of such famous historical figures as Junipero Serra and Gaspar de Portola. This Promised Land presents a vivid cast of Indians, missionaries, rebellious Mexicans and American settlers in a cinematic novel of love and strife, hatred and reconciliation, nobility and greed. This is the first in a trilogy, The Saga of California, which will follow the descendants of Lospe and Antonio through several generations up to the present day -- Back cover.