72-year-old Captain Jefferson Kidd, out of Georgia and living in
Texas, veteran of three wars, a former printer by trade, a widower with
grown children who live a long distance away, and nowadays a
professional “news reader”, finds himself in an unusual and potentially
dangerous situation. He has been implored by a trusted acquaintance to
take over the delivery of a white girl, recently “rescued” by the Army
from a Kiowa band, to her only known German relatives. 10-year-old
Johanna is at turns wild and wary, not understanding why she has been
separated from what she considers her family since being taken captive
four years earlier. As their unlikely journey from north to south Texas
plays out through bad weather, bad people, and bad fortune, the two
disparate souls bond through necessity and acceptance, ultimately
creating a crisis for the “Kepdun” and “Chohenna” at the intended
conclusion. An excellent, evocative yet also plain-spoken, novel, I kept
picturing it as a wonderful Western movie or series such as
Lonesome Dove or
The Cowboys. The fact that it uses historical bases for the characters and situations makes it even more fascinating.
[ official
News of the World web site ] | [ official
Paulette Jiles web site ]
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