Riders of the Purple Sage

It's 1871 in the contented Mormon town of Cottonwoods, Utah, and Elder Tull wants to marry wealthy rancher Jane Withersteen so desperately that he's willing to use the water supply - the precious lifeblood of the land - to force her hand. But that was before a mysterious, lone gunman called Lassiter showed up...

A gentile sage-rider is about to be whipped by the Mormans to coerce the rich and beautiful Jane Withersteen to marry against her will. In desperation Jane whispers the prayer, "Whence cometh my help!" Just then, an unlikely hero, the infamous gunfighter Lassiter, routs the persecutors and is drawn into this conflict on the Utah-Arizona border.

Lassiter is the strong, silent stranger who takes on the powerful agents trying to drive the lovely Jane Withersteen from her ranch in this acknowledged Western Classic.

Jane Withersteen, a sincere and faithful young Mormon woman, is persecuted by members of her own church. The as yet unmarried Withersteen has inherited a large and rich piece of property from her father. Elder Tull, an older church leader with several wives already, wants to marry her, but she does not want to marry him. She refuses him and is subsequently beset by troubles as Tull and his men wage a secret vindictive campaign against her.

The story you’re about to hear took place primarily in what is Southern Utah and has been called the quintessential Western, meaning simply it is a top-notch example of quality. It is composed of an extensive list of ingredients: adventure, action, violence, crisis, suspense, conflict, sentimentalism, and sex - they are all there. This classic of the Western genre was the kind of story the public clamored for, and author Zane Grey had great skill in supplying the desire.

In 1871 Utah, young Jane Withersteen is courted by Elder Tull, the leader of her polygamous Mormon church. When Jane refuses, the local Mormons persecute her. Meanwhile, Jane's friend, Bern Venters, is captured by Tull's posse and faces a harsh sentence. Jane defends him, causing even more friction with the Mormon populace.

In Cottonwoods, Utah, in 1871, a woman stands accused and a man is sentenced to whipping. Into this travesty of small-town justice rides the one man whom the town elders fear. His name is Lassiter, and he is a notorious gunman who's come to avenge his sister's death.

Jane Withersteen and her friend, Venters, find themselves at odds with the local Mormon church leaders, who covet her vast and valuable property and, at the same time, despise her deep friendship with Venters, a Gentile. A stranger, Lassiter, enters their lives while searching for his long-lost sister and becomes Jane's protector and Venters' mentor. Soon afterward, Venters is thrust together with a girl named Bess, and the four of them discover how their lives have been intertwined for years.

The novel has been called "the most popular western novel of all time". It has shaped the formula for the popular western novel. A classic!

Lassiter, a gunfighter, protects Jane Withersteen from cattle rustlers and greedy men who want her ranch, and her, for their own.

Sequel to the most iconic Western novel of all time, Riders of the Purple Sage. The plots of both books revolve around the victimization of women in the Mormon culture.

Being held prisoner in a lost canyon were three desperate people who had fled Mormon persecution. Among them was a beautiful lady named Fay Larkin, John Shefford's fiancé. The secret to the canyon lay in a hidden Mormon village of "sealed" wives, where the penalty for trespassing was death. And the treacherous half-breed Shad and his murderous crew were blocking the way to the village. The tenderfoot Shefford was desperate to rescue his lady. To accomplish this was no easy task, especially considering he didn't even pack a gun. He would have to fight his way to the canyon - knowing that his efforts might end in bloody slaughter!

A beautiful rainbow filled with mystery and promise prompts John Shefford's singular journey beyond the Utah upland into a wild canyon laden with a haunting secret. But to reach it, Shefford has to go through a Mormon village, where trespassing means death, and confront a treacherous outlaw who blocks the way.

Here is an arm's length sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. It answers the question most often asked: What finally happened to Lassiter and Jane Withersteen?

Ten years after the events of Riders of the Purple Sage, John Shefford, a disillusioned preacher from Illinois travels to Arizona and takes refuge in a village controlled by polygamist Mormons hiding from the federal government.

Zane Grey wrote this splendidly thrilling sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage in 1915, but for almost 90 years it has existed in a profoundly censored version. At last, the real story can be told.