Legacy of the Bitterroots

A sweeping multigenerational American epic that weaves together historical mystery, mythic storytelling, and urgent contemporary questions about who gets to tell our stories. In 1867, Irish Civil War veteran Eoinn Seeley leads seven fellow immigrants to establish Crystal Village in Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains-a utopian mining community that becomes one of the most progressive settlements in the American West. Powered by cutting-edge technology, radical social vision, and unexpected love stories that defy convention, the village prospers for decades alongside neighboring Indigenous communities, until the Great Fire of 1910 seemingly erases it from history. But what really happened to Crystal Village? And why do some families still carry its secrets? Over a century later, former Disney Imagineer Jack Seeley returns to Idaho after his grandmother's death and discovers fragments of a mystery that will change everything he thought he knew about his family's past. Working alongside childhood friend and novelist Susanne O'Connor, Jack begins to uncover the truth about Crystal Village-a truth that involves not just hidden history, but the mythic forces that have shaped the American West since time immemorial. Meticulously researched and featuring real historical figures from the mining boom era, Legacy of the Bitterroots spans from the Civil War to the digital age, exploring themes of cultural collaboration, intergenerational trauma, and the transformative power of authentic storytelling. From the chosen family bonds of Irish immigrants to the complex romance between cultures and generations, this is a story about what we inherit, what we choose to preserve, and what we're willing to risk to honor both the past and the future. For readers of Cloud Atlas, Outlander, Station Eleven, and The Overstory-a genre-defying novel that asks what happens when history refuses to stay buried, and whether authentic wonder can be preserved while honoring both the past and the future.