What’s it all about?:
The year is 1864. Sister Thomas Josephine, an innocent Visitantine nun from St Louis, Missouri, is making her way west to the promise of a new life in Sacramento, California. When an attack on her wagon train leaves her stranded in Wyoming, Thomas Josephine finds her faith tested and her heart torn between Lt. Theodore F. Carthy, a man too beautiful to be true, and the mysterious grifter Abraham C. Muir. Falsely accused of murder she goes on the run, all the while being hunted by a man who has become dangerously obsessed with her.
What did I think?:
I’m not a big Western fan. I don’t really enjoy any films I’ve seen or read much literature around that genre. In fact, if anything came on the television vaguely resembling a Western (and I remember it usually being boring Sunday afternoons, when you were dreading the week ahead), I would switch off immediately or groan loudly, especially as a child. So why, you might ask was I drawn to a Western novel? Firstly, I read The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt a few years ago now, in fact it was the only other Western I have ever read. I ADORED it. With Nunslinger, I was anticipating a similar kind of thing and when I saw that gorgeous cover art and read that it followed a “gun toting nun” of all people, I couldn’t help but covet it. A huge thank you to the publisher, Hodder Books and Book Bridgr for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review when my curiosity finally got the better of me.
Was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes. Nunslinger is a fast-paced, dramatic and exciting tale that was exactly what I was looking for. It’s the story of Sister Thomas Josephine whom in the late 1800’s, travels to California from her convent in Missouri in order to carry on the Lord’s work. However, her life is changed forever when the wagon she is traveling in is attacked and she is abducted by deserter and outlaw, Abraham Muir. As they journey together and develop an uneasy, bordering on courteous relationship, our female protagonist is accused of murder, has a bounty put on her head, is chased by a number of unsavoury types across the desert and earns quite a reputation for herself as the “Six Gun Sister.” The narrative follows Josephine as she struggles to complete her mission alive, fights to clear her name and discovers a whole lot more about herself, her capabilities, her strengths and indeed, her weaknesses as a woman and as a person under the most dangerous of circumstances.
After I finished this novel, I read a little more into it, which I like to do if a book has had a profound effect on me. The author is quite an enigma, we don’t know if they are male or female or anything about their life and the whole anonymity of this just serves to make me more intrigued, why all the secrecy? Putting this to one side and no matter who the author is it doesn’t change the fact that this is one rollicking ride of a novel. It was originally made up of twelve novellas which were released separately and in hindsight, I’m quite glad I read it in its entirety. I’m quite an impatient person and you can tell where each novella originally ended, there is an enormous cliffhanger, presumably to keep the reader on tenterhooks awaiting the next installment. I’ve seen some reviewers complain about this – comparing it to the over-dramatic tensions at the end of each chapter of a James Patterson novel but I have to disagree. There are quite a few cliffhangers (well, eleven of them to be precise as each novella ended) but I can see why this was done if each section was released in this way, maybe it was a good way to make sure the readers came back for more? Personally, it didn’t bother me at all and I quite enjoyed feeling like I was on a knife edge and the absurdity of the constant drama, but I suppose I can see why it might not please other readers.
With all this heightened tension and a plot that moves at the speed of light you might not think that this novel has anything to commend it all if you want a good literary narrative. However, you’d be surprised at the depths this story reaches in darkness, clever twists and wry humor. Perhaps not all the characters are developed as fully as I would have liked them to be but the character of our nun, Josephine more than makes up for that. She is kind, caring, intelligent but completely badass and very capable of taking care of herself and I loved the way she approached life and did what she had to do whilst trying to cause minimal damage to those around her. It made me slightly crazy how she could keep her faith and justify certain things she did to God (not being a particularly religious person myself) but she was such a fascinating person to follow, I could forgive her anything. There’s only one warning I should give for anyone reading this far and still interested – if you’re not a big fan of violence/gore this might not be the book for you, it has it in spades and doesn’t shy away from full, graphic details. In the same vein, if you’re like me and don’t think a Western would really be your bag, I urge you, don’t completely write this one off just yet. Nunslinger surprised me, shocked me and made me zip through the pages so quickly, you could almost believe it was half the number of pages it actually is. Why not give it a try?
Would I recommend it?:
But of course!
Star rating (out of 5):
