The Secret Saddle: Anna Troy's Emancipation

This is Dani's newest novel which is the second in The Emancipation Series.

Softcover books on Winter Sale for $5.00 off regular price!

The Secret Saddle: Anna Troy's Emancipation is a novel of historical fiction by Dani Larsen, which is based on the life of her grandmother; Anna Troy.

When Anna Troy marries George Hempe she thinks she is stepping into a life of bliss, but she soon finds the trauma of her forgotten childhood terrorizing her nightly. While they are living with her in-laws on their large ranch in Eastern Oregon, a man believed to be a trusted ranch hand gives her reason to worry. Her naive, trusting husband does not see the evil hidden beneath the man’s careful façade. Anna’s returning memories, and increasing fears of Jude Burden, have her so paralyzed with dread that she can’t tell her husband about what happened to her when she was four years old.

While Anna deals with life on her journey of self-discovery, the reader learns that the man she fears is a wanted man. We see that a Pinkerton Detective is on the man’s trail for previous crimes, and that Jude has many secrets, including the fact that his mother is a prostitute who frequents George’s uncle’s saloon. Jude threatens her in order to keep his identity a secret and wreaks havoc on anyone who gets close to uncovering his secrets. Detective Charlie Siringo is seeking proof that Jude is the man he is looking for and eventually searches for clues in Montana. In the midst of the mine wars between owners and strikers, the Pinkerton man loses more than the man’s scent.

This story spans twenty years as Anna and George raise their children; unaware of the reason why Jude follows the family across the state of Oregon. Greed, misogyny, and government corruption in early Oregon are some of the themes that carry this historical fiction thriller through to its traumatic end, as Anna Troy Hempe uncovers the truth amidst the trials and tribulations of life in the Wild West. 

Currently the softcover books only ship in the U.S.A.