Adelsverein: The Gathering is Volume 1 of the Adelsverein Trilogy, a saga of family and community loyalties, and the challenge of building a new life on the hostile frontier.

They have 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.

Among them is a family who will survive and endure, making their mark in Texas, their new land. Christian “Vati” Steinmetz, the clockmaker of Ulm in Bavaria, has brought his many 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. Their brothers, Friedrich and Johann, who have always been close- in the Civil War, one will wear Union blue, the other Confederate grey homespun  . . .  but never forget they are brothers!

Adelsverein – The Gathering: It’s about love and loss, joy and grief  . . .  and the sometimes wrenching process of becoming American.

What others are saying...

… a wonderfully complete picture of an era, and unforgettable memories of the engaging and sturdy families whose type formed the backbone of this nation … the great strength of the trilogy is that we experience those events not on the battlefield or in distant places, but on the home front. … To the Steinmetz family the news was minimal and late, and there were no guarantees of anything: disaster was an ever-present possibility. Random events could (and did) upset everything at any time. No matter what, the housework had to be done; the animals and crops had to be tended, and the family had to be raised. Such is life, and such is the power of literature.  The author's historical accuracy is meticulous, her writing clean and true: she brings an entire era to marvelous life. If you don't know the Texas hill country, you will after you read The Adelsverein Trilogy. I thought I knew it, but the Texas hill country will never look the same to me now. 

—Dr. Al Past, PODBRAM.com

… A superb ability to describe the natural world that will have the reader sharing the wonder of discovery with the Steinmetz family. As well as the beauty of new found lands the reader will share the warmth of new love, the horror of a massacre, and the heartbreak of the death of loved ones – most of which are the result of disease.

—Western Fiction Review

A moving story of coming to America and making one's mark, while retaining one's heritage…

—Midwest Book Reviews

Hayes has taken a relatively obscure piece of Texan history and created an interesting family to tell its story.… The saga is rich in detail from the hellish nightmare of the sea journey to the beauty of the hill country. 

—Beth Cummings, Armchair Interviews