Life's Lure — John Gneisenau Neihardt

The bitter darkness of frontier life pervades John G. Neihardt s fascinating second novel, set during the Black Hills gold rush. A dashing gentleman gambler named Louis Devlin does his best to tempt and corrupt two earnest, good men Samuel Drake, who has squandered his fortune in a Deadwood card game and Punkins, a callow farm boy who yearns to be rich. A lust for wealth, as Neihardt warns in many of his greatest works, has dire consequences. Set within the legendary gold rush town of Deadwood, these struggling souls and others are on a head-on collision course with their fate. Life s Lure was based on two short stories earlier penned by Neihardt The Lure of Woman and The Parable of the Sack. Philosophical and rich in detail, the novel authentically captures the eagerness, cynicism, and desperation of gold rush Deadwood at its lowest and highest."