|
Publisher:
Virtual Bookworm.com |
Release
Date: May 2002 |
ISBN:
1589391934 |
Awards:
|
Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Western |
Reviewed:
2003 |
Reviewer:
Nancy Mehl |
Reviewer
Notes: Some explicit material |
|
Prince
of the Plains
By Troy
Boucher
Prince
of the Plains is a fictionalized account of a real person. Henry
Newton Brown was the marshal of Caldwell, Kansas from 1882 to 1884.
He once rode with William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid. Author
Troy Boucher, using what is known about Brown, fills in the gaps
with creative conjecture. He has brilliantly succeeded in bringing
Henry Brown to life, as well as placing the reader in the middle
of the Old West, with its penchant for self-preservation, greed,
and vengeance. Prince of the Plains is more than a story
of an era--it is a story of civilization-and it is beautifully told
with compassion and perception.
Henry
Brown decides to change his life. He rides away from New Mexico
and William Bonney. His path from outlaw to marshal takes him through
many experiences, including a relationship with Callie Gentry, a
young woman whose dream of singing on-stage leads her to run away
from home, seeking a life she believes will be better than the one
she leaves behind. Callie's journey is heart-touching and incredibly
haunting-and the story of the patent-leather shoes given to her
by her mother paints a picture that readers will have a hard time
forgetting.
Along
the way, Brown also meets Thaddeus Armstrong, a man whose wife and
child were murdered by Indians. Brown joins with Armstrong to bring
the killers to justice, but the men discover that the road to revenge
doesn't always lead you where you planned to go.
Prince
of the Plains is more than a cardboard cut-out of a western
novel with good guys and bad guys. Instead, it looks into the hearts
of real people--where the lines between good and evil are not so
well-defined. Troy Boucher has written a classic novel that bridges
the Old West and the present with lessons about life and consequences.
Highly
recommended!
|