Retribution Road by Christi Corbett
Rating: Five Stars/Five Stars
Short Story/Historical Fiction
Available on Amazon
It’s November 1867 in Retribution Road by Christi Corbett. Graham, a former veterinarian who has lost his livelihood and reputation, is making his way through the vast Montana Territory to meet with his brother, a blacksmith in Bozeman. Graham intends to stop on the way in the town of Whitcomb Springs to evaluate his options for regaining work tending animals or supplying miners. Before he can find the town, a frigid and hungry Graham comes across two men whose camp promises food and warmth. His encounter with the men is pleasant enough, but as he departs, he overhears their plans to assault a spinster woman who lives on the outskirts of town and rob the supply wagon set to move through the next day. Determined not to let that happen, Graham trails the two men and quickly finds himself in the midst of a battle of weapons and wits with the woman, whose name is Willow, the two men, and a dog named Winston who is caught in the middle.
I thoroughly enjoyed Retribution Road by Christi Corbett. There is much packed into this short story to love and get lost in. The nineteenth century setting is beautifully described and the reader feels immediately at home in that time and space. The reader also becomes instantly familiar with Graham and Willow, fascinating characters that we have the privilege of getting to know as they get to know each other. Retribution Road takes place over one action-packed day, one that packs a whopping emotional punch. I found myself rooting for Graham, Willow, and Winston as they worked together to fight against the outside forces imposing its will on them—a fight that Graham and Willow had fought for most of their lives before coming together in unusual and unexpected circumstances. I highly recommend this story and warn you that you will not want it to end!
This short story is part of the Whitcomb Springs series. Whitcomb Springs is the name of a fictional town in the Montana Territory of the nineteenth century. Written by multiple authors, the series spans the years of 1865-1885, and, according to its Amazon.com description, is “filled with stories of adventure, danger, romance, and hope.”