Fleeing Babylon (first published in 1998) has been thoroughly revised, updated and enlarged. Ironically, life in San Francisco today in many ways mirrors that of the boom town of 1850, filled with thieves, arsonists, looters and corrupt politicians. The novel continues the adventures of Deirdre O'Connor and Josh Logan begun in the best-selling novel One Against the Wilderness (first published in 1996 and re-issued in 2010). In the spring of 1850, Deirdre and Josh's marriage plans are interrupted when Josh is called to the Society Islands Mission (French Polynesia). President Brigham Young also calls Deirdre to teach at a school for the children of the Saints in San Francisco. The first part of the sequel chronicles Deirdre and Josh's trek along the California Trail at the height of the Gold Rush. In San Francisco, Deirdre is re-united with her father, Kevin, whom she hasn't seen since he left from Boston on a business trip to Oregon three years earlier. After Josh leaves for Tahiti, Deirdre is shocked to find that San Francisco is such a corrupt societythe Babylon of the title. When her father, who is caught up in the seamy side of city life, gets involved in vigilantism, she pleads with him to take her back to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Kevin finally agrees, but his participation with Sam Brannan in a new vigilante movement delays their flight over the mountains. When Deirdre and Kevin do leave San Francisco, it is under a cloak of mystery. Why is Kevin in such a hurry to get away? Who is dogging their trail? The answers to these questions unfold as the story builds to an exciting climax. Familiar characters from One Against the Wilderness such as Antoine Boubeau, Ben Durphy, Trevor Deakins, and the mustang Dan show up in the sequel and are joined by many new characters. This new version of Fleeing Babylon makes an excellent companion volume to One Against the Wilderness.
