The basic structure of the western romance: she's down and out, and has to manage the farm on her own. The town boss wants her farm--and maybe her too--and it's all she can do to keep her act together. So along comes the tall stranger in the cowboy hat, and he fixes up her farm, fights off the bad guys and wins the day.

As Sarah's Brass Token begins, Sarah is losing her last living relation.

To give him moral support, against her brother's wishes, Sarah Jones goes to the town called Banjo on the day her brother is hung there. She's sent back to her farm (which is all that she has left) with her brother in a pine box--and an admonishment from the sheriff to return the shovel when she's done burying him in the plot of ground that holds her parent’s remains. Not a soul in town will assist her--but a stranger offers to help her lay him to rest.

The stranger is Tabor Nolan. When he comes to town and rents a room, he is already a widower with a life fractured by war, forever searching for his elusive dream of family. He witnesses how the town taunts Sarah and calls her the "unwidow" because of her husbandless state and six-year-old Andy.

With the boy Andy to raise, Sarah flees from the only job she's offered--as a saloon girl. Then as she's struggling to make repairs to the farm, she falls from a ladder. Andy runs to town to get help, and it is again Tabor Nolan who comes to her aid. The question is whether or not he and Sarah can find each other, overcome their obstacles and make a life.

If you like Westerns, this is a little bit Shane, a little bit Shootist, a little bit Angel and the Badman. I can't help but wish it were a little bit more Sarah's Brass Token. I would like to say a lot of great things about this story, but it never quite jelled for me. Perhaps it is because I wrote a western with so many of the same points that it makes me want to find something that shakes this story out of its box. However, if you do like a story that resides in the box, one that is mostly dealing with the details and romance between a cowboy and that elusive gal with a little chip on her shoulder and a six year old boy on her lap, this one's for you.

Reviewed by Allie
© March 2008