Who would have guessed Cheyenne, Wyoming once had the highest number of millionaires per capita in the country?
Amanda Cabot discovered that fact and many others while researching her novella The Christmas Star Bride.
It’s one of six novellas in The Treasured Christmas Brides novella collection.
Such a surprising fact spurred her imagination and intrigued her writer’s sensibility.
“Ever since I moved to Cheyenne and learned a bit of its history, I’ve been fascinated by the era of the cattle barons. Cheyenne was the wealthiest city per capita in the country.
“Not only was Cheyenne the capitol of Wyoming Territory, but it also boasted beautiful parks, the only opera house west of the Mississippi and even had electric lights. What better time and place to set a story?”
Cheyenne fan!
This is not Amanda’s first visit to nineteenth century Cheyenne. Two of her Westward Winds books, Waiting for Spring and With Autumn’s Return, are both set in Cheyenne during this period.
In this particular story, however, she wanted to tell the story of “an older couple, one who’d suffered through the War Between the States, and how love comes when it’s least expected.
“Once I realized what Jeremy and Esther had endured, the story practically wrote itself.”
“The Bible verse I chose for this story is Psalm 34:22, “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.”
Both Esther and Jeremy have had desolate periods in their lives. Thanks to their faith in the Lord, they are redeemed.”
Amanda noted her characters are not based on real peopl.
“But my heroes and heroines frequently embody my personal values. Because I believe in justice and happy endings, readers will find that my protagonists do, too.
“They’ll also find the recurring theme of the healing power of love, since that’s something I believe in.”
Because she lives in Cheyenne, Amanda often walks the streets her characters inhabited.
She’d not personally like to have lived in that time period (too dangerous to be ill), but she would love to have seen the opulent homes now gone.
Who is Amanda Cabot?
Amanda Cabot is the author of more than thirty-five novels, including the CBA bestseller Christmas Roses and Waiting for Spring.
A Christmas-time bride herself, Amanda now lives in Cheyenne with her high-school sweetheart husband, where they celebrate a fairly simple Christmas tradition.
For more information about Amanda, please visit her website or read her blog.
You can also find her on
Amanda had one last word: “I hope everyone who’s reading this has an opportunity to read all of the Treasured Christma Brides novellas. I’ve had the privilege of reading each of them, and I can tell you that you’re in for a treat.”
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?