"From Pass to Pass: A Tale of Adventure from Wyoming to India" is a historical novel about the life of young Millie Jenkins who works alongside her parents and four older brothers on a Pass Creek cattle ranch in northern Wyoming. It is time for twenty-year-old Millie to be married. Her parents, Tom and Trixie Jenkins, are hopeful she won't become just another rancher's wife. There is Zeke, the handsome cowboy, who works on a neighboring ranch. He writes poetry and dances better than any partner Millie has had. Then a rich Englishman, Oliver Halbard, comes into her life. He has airs and talks with an accent. His only talents seem to be his sense of humor and the ability to draw. Otherwise, Millie thinks he's a snob, though a rich one. Oliver's father, Samuel, sees Millie as the perfect travel companion for his teenage daughter on a trip to Ladak, the land of passes, in the Indian Himalaya. The invitation to go with the Halbards causes Millie a personal crisis, but her father sees it as an opportunity for his daughter to find a proper husband. Does she find the perfect mate? Will it be Oliver or her cowboy sweetheart, Zeke?
"From Pass to Pass" is comprised of four books. Book I is about Millie's life on the Pass Creek ranch. Book II covers Millie's journey from Wyoming to Chicago, where she attends the Columbia Exposition then to London where she joins the Halbard family; the party then travels on the Mail Express to Brindisi, Italy, where they board a steamship to Bombay. Book III covers Millie's onward journey to Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi by train then by pony cart along the Jhelum Road to Baramulla on the outskirts of Srinagar, Kashmir, and into the city of Srinagar, where the party prepares for their pony trek to Ladak. Book IV follows Millie through the infamous Zoji pass to Leh. There, she and the Halbard daughter board with Moravian missionaries, while the others go on their hunting expedition to the Tibetan plateau.
"From Pass to Pass" is loosely based on Abby Ripley's great-grandparents who homesteaded a cattle ranch on Pass Creek in northwestern Wyoming. No one in her family should construct a genealogy from the characters named in the story. Many family names are used but not necessarily for the real persons who lived during 1892-1893. The author, herself, spent nearly two years in Ladakh (the modern spelling of Ladak) doing anthropological research. The information given in the final book of this debut novel is based upon her experience and knowledge of the area and its people.
