Savage Thunder by Johanna Lindsey is a story that is set in the late 1870s in the U.S. territories. The main character, Jocelyn, is a white, economically privileged Duchess who flees Europe after inheriting a great wealth from her dead husband. After many years of sightseeing with her team, she visits the United States and the Wild West. There she is faced with many dangers, mostly from white villains who are hired by her in-laws to kill her. After a failed attempt on her life, she meets a Native American man, Colt Thunder, another main character, whom she hires to serve her needs as a guide and a lover. Colt Thunder, who is a half-breed (white/Indian) raised as a full blooded Indian savage struggles with accompanying Jocelyn as her presence
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She pushes the boundaries of conservative views of female sexual behavior. She actively pursues Colt to satisfy her sexual desires. Being a virgin widow and not wanting to taint her dead husband’s memory, she decides to pursue a potential lover, which is Colt. With his masculine physique and depiction as a “Cheyenne brave, lethal, dangerous, the savage wildness of the Injun unleashed, striking fear into the hearts of civilized man” (Lindsey4), Jocelyn becomes intrigued. She is very forward with her sexual feelings; however Colt tries to demonstrate sexual responsibility by avoiding her. He is aware of the brutal consequences of an interracial relationship after having been slashed by white men for sleeping with a white woman as he is half-breed and being heavily prejudiced and discriminated against in the white society for contaminating “white” women. The aftermath of such racial brutality leaves Colt unable to emotionally connect with Jocelyn. She reminds him of his painful past and the reality of the existing unjust social structure. However, Jocelyn seems clueless and insensitive of racial prejudices as she seems open-minded to Colt’s “strangeness” with “hawkish features”
She pushes the boundaries of conservative views of female sexual behavior. She actively pursues Colt to satisfy her sexual desires. Being a virgin widow and not wanting to taint her dead husband’s memory, she decides to pursue a potential lover, which is Colt. With his masculine physique and depiction as a “Cheyenne brave, lethal, dangerous, the savage wildness of the Injun unleashed, striking fear into the hearts of civilized man” (Lindsey4), Jocelyn becomes intrigued. She is very forward with her sexual feelings; however Colt tries to demonstrate sexual responsibility by avoiding her. He is aware of the brutal consequences of an interracial relationship after having been slashed by white men for sleeping with a white woman as he is half-breed and being heavily prejudiced and discriminated against in the white society for contaminating “white” women. The aftermath of such racial brutality leaves Colt unable to emotionally connect with Jocelyn. She reminds him of his painful past and the reality of the existing unjust social structure. However, Jocelyn seems clueless and insensitive of racial prejudices as she seems open-minded to Colt’s “strangeness” with “hawkish features”