RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE BY ZANE GREY (1912)

Riders of the Purple Sage is one of the most popular Western novels ever, but I'll be willing to bet it's not well-loved in Salt Lake City. The reason? Unexpectedly, the villains are the Mormon leaders of a community in Utah and the other Mormon residents who cooperate with them out of fear of reprisal or religious devotion.

The central character is Jane Withersteen, the beautiful young heiress to a huge ranch in the high country of Utah in 1871. As she tries to maintain her independence, she is pressured by the leadership of her church to become one of the many wives of an Elder and to cease her friendships with the few Gentiles (non-Mormons) in the small village. The Mormon leaders are portrayed as also being hungry for power and wealth and unable to tolerate the existence of any female not under their control. When the Bishop and Elder order all of her range riders to leave her and rustlers drive off half her cattle, Jane is unexpectedly aided by the arrival of a stranger named Lassiter. Although he has the reputation of being a killer of Mormons as revenge for a mysterious wrong once done to him, she accepts his help in running her ranch, believing she can persuade him to abandon his murderous ways. It is easy for the reader to anticipate that romantic sparks will fly although the two have clashing belief systems.

Parallel to the events are Jane's struggles to continue to subscribe to the religious teachings of her upbringing while she is suffering blatant persecution by the leaders of that religion. When the inevitable showdown comes, she must for once and all choose where her allegiance lies.

Zane Grey purportedly carefully studied the plot and structure of Owen Wister's The Virginian before beginning to write his own novel, and the plots do have certain similarities. However, Grey's plot is much more complicated and even includes a secondary love story between Jane's Gentile friend and an outlaw's girl. The dramatic action is much more at the forefront here than in Wister's novel, with multiple lengthily described gun battles and chases on horseback. As does Wister, Grey provides much description of the wild landscape, but I would have to judge that Grey is often guilty of over-writing. And his dialogue is terrible.

I plan to sample more Zane Grey in the future. His literary skills may not be great, but this is a suspenseful and exciting story.