In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honour, and trust.
In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.
In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna's parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows. Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act "civilized." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.
Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember-strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden.
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CAPTAIN KIDD laid out the Boston Morning Journal on the lectern and began to read from the article on the Fifteenth Amendment.
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(@WmMorrowBooks, 4 October 2016, e-book, 356 pages, borrowed from @NACLibraries via @BorrowBox, #POPSUGARreadingchallenge, a book from a genre you typically avoid)
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This is my first time reading the author. I don't usually read westerns so News of the World seemed the perfect fit for this category. I haven't see the film. I enjoyed this a lot and want to see the film now. This is a relative short read and I'm surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the book. I liked Captain Kidd Laid as a character, someone who's trying to do what he thinks is best. I kept seeing Tom Hanks in my head as I read. This is well-written, powerful read. I'd recommend it.
