From the Old World to the New

The frontier would challenge them.Brutal war would test them, in a crucible of fire

But they would endure and build. They would prosper and in the end ...They would become Americans.

The Adelsverein Trilogy is a saga of family and community loyalties, and the challenge of building a new life on the hostile frontier. They come from Germany to Texas in 1847, under the auspices of the "Mainzer Adelsverein" – the society of noblemen of Mainz, who seek to fill a settlement in Texas with German farmers and craftsmen.

Christian "Vati" Steinmetz, the clockmaker of Ulm in Bavaria, has brought his sons and daughters: Magda – passionate and courageous, courted by Carl Becker, a young frontiersman with a dangerous past. Her sister Liesel wants nothing more than to be a good wife to her husband Hansi, a stolid and practical farmer called by circumstances to be something greater, in the boom years of the great cattle ranches. Their brothers Friedrich and Johann, have always been close — in the Civil War, one will wear Union blue, the other Confederate grey homespun — but never forget they are brothers. And finally, there is Vati's adopted daughter Rosalie, whose life ends as it began – in tragedy. But Vati's family will will survive and ultimately triumph. They will make their mark in Texas, their new land.

Adelsverein — It's about love and loss, joy and grief . . . and the sometimes wrenching process of becoming American.