In the heart of Texas but not yet at home

The Texas Hill Country from 1847 – 1865 … In search of political and personal freedom, self-determination and their own land, thousands of Germans start to settle in the wilderness of Southwest Texas. Among these settlers are the Hessians Karl Engelbach and his son Johann, forced to flee their native country in 1844. Although the work of cultivating the new land is very difficult, the Germans do well at first. With the help and support of their new friends, the Comanches, they manage to change the former wilderness of the Texas Hill Country. Their cities of Fredericksburg, New-Braunfels, Boerne and Comfort become centers of civilization, culture, prosperity and freedom. But after the secession of Texas from the United States and the onset of the Civil War, all their earlier work and hardships may have been in vain. They seem to be losing what they have gained. Mostly Union supporters, the Engelbachs and their compatriots in the Texas Hill Country want to stay true to the Union. But during Civil War times they have to ask themselves whether the price they must pay for their loyalty to the Union is really worth it. How can the Texan Germans endure through this dilemma? Barbara Ortwein’s story is a thrilling continuation of the first book of her Texas saga, Between Worlds, Never to Return. The main topic of her sequel is the integration of the Germans in Texas, especially at the frontier in today’s Fredericksburg and its surroundings. After intensive research, the author manages to combine the story of her fictional characters Karl and Johann Engelbach with the real story of the Germans who settled in the Texas Hill Country. Her plot clarifies why the integration of the Germans in Texas was first successful, but then seemed to go terribly wrong during the American Civil War.