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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Westerns
A BOOKLIST EDITOR'S CHOICE BOOK OF THE YEAR Ambitious and
masterfully-wrought, Lauren Francis-Sharma's Book of the Little Axe
is an incredible journey, spanning decades and oceans from Trinidad
to the American West during the tumultuous days of warring colonial
powers and westward expansion. In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendon
quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her
to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason
she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her
talents lie in running the farm she, alone, views as her
birthright. But when her homeland changes from Spanish to British
rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black
property owners-Rosa's family among them-will be allowed to keep
their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom. By 1830,
Rosa is living among the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana with her
children and her husband, Edward Rose, a Crow chief. Her son Victor
is of the age where he must seek his vision and become a man. But
his path forward is blocked by secrets Rosa has kept from him. So
Rosa must take him to where his story began and, in turn, retrace
her own roots, acknowledging along the way, the painful events that
forced her from the middle of an ocean to the rugged terrain of a
far-away land.
William Tell Sackett had followed a different path from his younger brothers, but his name, like theirs, was spoken with respect and just a little fear. Where Orrin had brought law and order from New Mexico to the plains of Montana, backed up by the gunfighting talents of his brother Tye, Tell Sackett's destiny drew him to Texas after he had to kill a man. There, in the high, lonesome country, he came upon a vein of pure gold. All he'd wanted was enough to buy a ranch, but he soon learned that gold had ways of its own with men.
Tyrel Sackett was born to trouble, but vowed to justice. After having to kill a man in Tennessee, he hit the trail west with his brother Orrin. Those were the years when decent men and women lived in fear of Indians, rustlers, and killers, but the Sackett brothers worked to make the West a place where people could raise their children in peace. Orrin brought law and order from Santa Fe to Montana, and his brother Tye backed him up every step of the way. Till the day the job was done, Tye Sackett was the fastest gun alive.
The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of News of the World
and Enemy Women returns to Texas in this atmospheric story, set at
the end of the Civil War, about an itinerant fiddle player, a
ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels trying to make a
living, and the charming young Irish lass who steals his heart. In
March 1865, the long and bitter War between the States is winding
down. Till now, twenty-three-year-old Simon Boudlin has evaded
military duty thanks to his slight stature, youthful appearance,
and utter lack of compunction about bending the truth. But
following a barroom brawl in Victoria, Texas, Simon finds himself
conscripted, however belatedly, into the Confederate Army. Luckily
his talent with a fiddle gets him a comparatively easy position in
a regimental band. Weeks later, on the eve of the Confederate
surrender, Simon and his bandmates are called to play for officers
and their families from both sides of the conflict. There the
quick-thinking, audacious fiddler can't help but notice the lovely
Doris Mary Dillon, an indentured girl from Ireland, who is
governess to a Union colonel's daughter. After the surrender, Simon
and Doris go their separate ways. He will travel around Texas
seeking fame and fortune as a musician. She must accompany the
colonel's family to finish her three years of service. But Simon
cannot forget the fair Irish maiden, and vows that someday he will
find her again. Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette
Jiles's trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a
captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will
take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart's yearning.
"Jiles' sparse but lyrical writing is a joy to read. . . . Lose
yourself in this entertaining tale." - Associated Press
Set in New Mexico, St Agnes' Stand is a classic story of the
American West. Nat Swanson is on the run from a mob of Texas
cowboys. He has killed a man in a fair fight, but the man's friends
believe he was shot in the back and set out to string Swanson up
for murder. A bullet in his leg slows him down and with the posse
closing in, his chances of survival look dim. Trying desperately to
get to sanctuary in California, he comes upon two freight wagons
besieged by Apaches, and, against his better judgment, stops to
help. He kills one of the Indians with his grandfather's antique
crossbow, buying time for whoever survives behind the wagons.
Thinking he's done his good deed, he continues his flight. One of
those trapped, however, is 76-year-old Sister Agnes, who prays to
God for a man to deliver her, her fellow nuns and the seven orphans
they are transporting. Sister Agnes is convinced that Nat Swanson
has been sent by God to rescue them. Swanson is equally convinced
that the best they can hope for is not to be taken alive. And for
five gruesome days in the blazing heat and dust, faith fights with
humanity for the simple right to exist.
In his National Book Award-winning novel Augustus, John Williams
uncovered the secrets of ancient Rome. With Butcher's Crossing, his
fiercely intelligent, beautifully written western, Williams
dismantles the myths of modern America.
It is the 1870s, and Will Andrews, fired up by Emerson to seek "an
original relation to nature," drops out of Harvard and heads west.
He washes up in Butcher's Crossing, a small Kansas town on the
outskirts of nowhere. "Butcher's Crossing "is full of restless men
looking for ways to make money and ways to waste it. Before long
Andrews strikes up a friendship with one of them, a man who regales
Andrews with tales of immense herds of buffalo, ready for the
taking, hidden away in a beautiful valley deep in the Colorado
Rockies. He convinces Andrews to join in an expedition to track the
animals down. The journey out is grueling, but at the end is a
place of paradisal richness. Once there, however, the three men
abandon themselves to an orgy of slaughter, so caught up in killing
buffalo that they lose all sense of time. Winter soon overtakes
them: they are snowed in. Next spring, half-insane with cabin
fever, cold, and hunger, they stagger back to Butcher's Crossing to
find a world as irremediably changed as they have been.
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Outlaw
(Paperback)
Charles G West
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R145
R116
Discovery Miles 1 160
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Long fascinated with the Mexican Revolution and the vicious border
wars of the early twentieth century, Winston Groom brings to life
this period of history in a saga of heroism, injustice and love. El
Paso pits the legendary outlaw and revolutionary Pancho Villa,
against a thrill-seeking railway tycoon known as the Colonel whose
fading fortune is tied up in a colossal ranch in Chihuahua. When
Villa kidnaps the Colonel's grandchildren in the midst of a cattle
drive and absconds into the Sierra Madre, the patriarch and his
adopted son head to El Paso, looking for a group of cowboys brave
enough to hunt the Generalissimo down. Replete with gunfights,
daring escapes and an unforgettable bullfight, El Paso, with its
blend of history and legend, is an indelible portrait of the
American Southwest in the waning days of the frontier.
Serenity races against time to save Inara's life in an original
Firefly tie-in novel that reads like a lost episode from the show A
deadly disease Months after Inara leaves Serenity, Mal and the crew
finally learn the reason for her sudden departure: she is dying of
a terminal illness. It is Kiehl's Myeloma, a form of cancer that's
supposedly incurable, and Inara has very little time left. A
disreputable scientist Through their shock and despair, rumors of a
cure reach the crew. Expert Esau Weng is said to have developed a
means to treat Inara's condition, but he has been disgraced and
incarcerated for life on a notorious Alliance prison planet. An
infamous prison On the planet of Atata, inmates are abandoned with
no guards and left to survive as best they can. What's more,
terraforming the planet did not take properly, so the world is a
frozen wasteland. To save Inara, the Serenity crew must infiltrate
the prison...
First published in 1977, Robert Day's "The Last Cattle Drive"--an
instant bestseller and Book-of-the-Month Club selection--is now a
modern-day Western classic. This raucous, rollicking novel of a
cattle drive in the age of the automobile revived a genre and added
its own special twists in capturing the imagination of readers
nationwide. To honor the thirtieth anniversary of its publication,
the University Press of Kansas is proud to announce a new 30th
anniversary edition of this much-loved work.
This edition includes these new features: a foreword by
acclaimed Western historian Howard R. Lamar, reflecting on the
novel's enduring popularity; an afterword by Robert Day recalling
the experience of writing the novel and commenting on his own
literary heroes (among them Mark Twain); "The Last Cattle Drive
Stampede," Day's hilarious piece about failed attempts to make a
movie of the book; and special endpaper maps of the cattle-drive
route. Whether you're renewing your affection for an old favorite
or coming to the work for the first time, this new edition will be
a book to treasure and return to time and time again.
"Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended
reading after dark." - Stephen King After having travelled west for
weeks, the party of pioneers comes to a crossroads. It is time for
their leader, George Donner, to make a choice. They face two
diverging paths which lead to the same destination. One is
well-documented - the other untested, but rumoured to be shorter.
Donner's decision will shape the lives of everyone travelling with
him. The searing heat of the desert gives way to biting winds and a
bitter cold that freezes the cattle where they stand. Driven to the
brink of madness, the ill-fated group struggles to survive and
minor disagreements turn into violent confrontations. Then the
children begin to disappear. As the survivors turn against each
other, a few begin to realise that the threat they face reaches
beyond the fury of the natural elements, to something more primal
and far more deadly. Based on the true story of The Donner Party,
The Hunger is an eerie, shiver-inducing exploration of human
nature, pushed to its breaking point.
A brand-new series of sweet, small town cowboy romance from USA
Today bestselling author Jennie Marts. The Horse Whisperer meets
Hope Floats when bubbly Bryn Callahan and brooding Zane Taylor
protect an unwanted horse and end up with an animal rescue
operation that they can only handle when they rely on each other.
Scarred and battered loner Zane Taylor has a gift with animals,
particularly horses, but he's at a total loss when it comes to
knowing how to handle women. Even though he's sworn off love, he
can't seem to stay away from Bryn Callahan. He's known for being a
horse whisperer, but can't seem to find his voice at all where Bryn
is concerned. Bryn Callahan has a heart for strays, but she is
through trying to save damaged men. She vows to only date nice
guys, which is a category that does not include Zane Taylor. Too
bad he's the only one who sets her pulse racing every time she's
around him. Starting a horse rescue ranch wasn't in Bryn's plan,
but try telling that to the assembly of abandoned animals that have
found their way to her doorstep. And when a chance encounter with a
horse headed for slaughter brings Zane and Bryn together, they find
themselves given a chance to save not just the horse, but maybe
each other... Praise for Caught Up in a Cowboy: "Funny,
complicated, and irresistible."-JODI THOMAS, New York Times
bestselling author "An appealing story of love rediscovered...enjoy
this tender tale."-Publishers Weekly "Full of exquisite heat and
passion...an enthralling combination of intense moments, playful
banter, and great depth of emotion."-Harlequin Junkie
Featuring the character first written by Elmore Leonard, Raylan
Givens After an altercation with his superiors in Harlan County,
Kentucky, Deputy US Marshal, Raylan Givens is offered two choices.
He can either retire or finish his career on the fugitive task
force in the crime-ridden precincts of Detroit. Acting on a tip,
Raylan and his new partner, deputy marshal Bobby Torres arrest Jose
Rindo, a destructive and violent criminal. Rindo is also being
pursued by the FBI who arrive shortly after he is in custody.
Raylan bumps heads with a beautiful FBI agent named Nora Sanchez,
who wants Rindo for the murder of a one of their own. When Rindo,
escapes from the county jail and is arrested in Ohio, Raylan and
FBI Special Agent Sanchez drive south to pick up the fugitive and
bring him back to stand trial. Later, when Rindo escapes again,
Raylan and Nora--still at odds--are reunited and follow the elusive
fugitive's trail across Arizona to El Centro, California and into
Mexico where they have no jurisdiction or authority. How are they
going to bring Rindo, a Mexican citizen, across the border without
anyone knowing? Raylan Goes to Detroit is an exciting continuation
of one of Elmore Leonard's greatest heroes, an edge-of-your-seat,
page-turner in the spirit of Elmore's classic Raylan books.
Irish immigrant brothers Michael and Thomas O'Driscoll have
returned from the brutal front lines of the Civil War. Unable to
adapt to life as farm labourers, they re-enlist in the army and are
thrown into ferocious combat with Red Cloud's coalition of Indian
tribes in the heart of Montana's Powder River Valley. Thomas finds
love amidst the daily carnage-which leads to a moment of violence
that will change the brothers' lives forever. Meanwhile, following
a double murder in a brothel, Lieutenant Martin Molloy sets off to
track down the killers. As he journeys to a remote outpost, he
meets Irish nationalist rebels and anti-immigrant nativists who
prove to be opposed to his investigations. Wolves of Eden blends
intimate historical detail and emotional acuity in a haunting
narrative that explores themes of morality, the resilience of the
human spirit and the injustice implicit in warfare.
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