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    News of the World: A Novel
    News of the World: A Novel
    News of the World: A Novel
    Ebook261 pages4 hours

    News of the World: A Novel

    By Paulette Jiles

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

    National Book Award Finalist—Fiction

    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, honor, 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. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 4, 2016
    ISBN9780062409225
    Author

    Paulette Jiles

    Paulette Jiles is a novelist, poet, and memoirist. She is the author of Cousins, a memoir, and the novels Enemy Women, Stormy Weather, The Color of Lightning, Lighthouse Island, Simon the Fiddler, and News of the World, which was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award. She lives on a ranch near San Antonio, Texas.

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    Reviews for News of the World

    4/5

    1,433 ratings167 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A sweet story about a man, Captain Kidd, who travels across a post-civil war Texas to deliver a little girl, Johanna, who was taken by the Kiowa tribe when she was 6 and is being returned to her aunt and uncle 4 years later. Johanna does not remember much about her past life and identifies as a Kiowan, Captain tries to teach her, but also lets her be herself while they travel and face many obstacles that bonds them together. The writing is pretty direct, everything written is related to the story, which felt weird at first because the story begins immediately without knowing the characters well. Captain's background is explored here and there throughout the novel, would of liked to have that for Johanna as well, like when she lived with the Kiowas.
    • 4/5
      A simple but emotional historical fiction novel about an old Captain who is tasked with bringing a young German girl back to her family (she had been captured by the Kiowa 4 years before). He has spent the last few years traveling around small towns in Texas reading the news of the day from newspapers all over the world. However, his task is slightly complicated by the half-wild Johanna who is caught between two worlds. The relationship that develops between this unlikely pair is without a doubt the heart of the novel. This was a great book, and I'm inspired to do some more research/reading about captive children.
    • 4/5
      10 year old captured girl is being returned to former family by an ex-captain in the 1800's. There is a feeling of the "Old West" to this novel. The dialogue is missing quotation marks, which was distracting at first, but at some point I stopped noticing as the book unfolded. This is a short novel and while it was good and enjoyable, it is not one I would highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      I love the idea of a man traveling from town to town to read the news of the world to isolated Americans after the Civil War. Captain Kidd is just that man and is known throughout northern Texas. When the Kiowas return a young girl from captivity, the Captain is hired to return her to her family near San Antonio. The characters and adventures are fascinating. For people who have problems with the author's non-use of quotations, I strongly suggest they listen to an audio version. It is worth listening a second time. One of my favorite books.
    • 4/5
      NEWS OF THE WORLD is a nice little book, nothing earthshaking but still a good book and one you'll want to read.In post-Civil War time, Captain Jefferson Kidd travels to small towns in Texas where he is a reader, that is, he reads the news of the world to gatherings of people there. At one of his stops, he is given a 10-year-old girl to deliver to her aunt and uncle. The little girl, Johanna, had been stolen by the Indians when she was 4 years old. Now she is Indian, herself, having lost all traces of European language and manners. We travel across Texas along with the captain and Johanna and watch as they grow to love one another, the "old man" and his "little warrior."You'll probably love this book. Most people do.
    • 5/5
      Short, enjoyable story of an aging gentleman who inherits the problem of transporting a 10 year old girl--who was captured and raised by the Kiowa for several years--back to her family in San Antonio, Texas--just after the Civil War. Reminded me of a Gentleman from Moscow.
    • 4/5
      Captain Kidd makes his living traveling from one small Texas town to another, reading the news of the world, bringing stories of far-off places to rural people who need escape and entertainment. At one of his stops, he is persuaded to escort a young girl, recaptured from the Kiowa Indians, back to her relatives near San Antonia. Ten-year-old Johanna has lived with the Kiowa for four years, the only life and family she remembers, and she seems almost feral. As they journey, a bond begins to form between the old man and the young girl, strengthened by the adventures they share, including one memorable gunfight. But if you expect this novel to be maudlin or sentimental, banish that thought. This is a simple story well-told with well-defined characters who you will truly come to care about--a heart-warming read perfect for the holidays.
    • 4/5
      The elderly Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd - veteran of the War of 1812 and Mexican-American War, former printer, and widower - currently earns a living as an itinerant news reader traveling town to town in Texas. When no one is available to take a feral ten-year old white girl, who has been recently rescued from the Kiowa Indians who kidnapped her after killing her parents, to relatives near San Antonio, Capt. Kidd accepts a $50 gold piece and begins the trek. The trip will average about 20 miles per day in a buckboard wagon for approximately 21 days.I found Capt. Kidd's profession of news reader interesting. He would travel to towns, where I imagine many of the citizens were illiterate, and perform readings from various domestic and foreign newspapers. I also enjoyed learning about the white children captured and adopted by Native American Indians in the 19th century. Finally, I enjoyed reading about the bonding that occurred between this grandfatherly character and a young girl during the journey, each looking after the other.
    • 5/5
      This book dang near broke my heart...... but in a good way and solely due to the authors expertise in creating two wonderful characters with a unique relationship. captain Kidd, travels Northern Texas as a news reader, in post Civil War, Texas. He is offered a tidy sum to deliver a young girl who was captured by the Kiowa Indians when she was six, the rest of her immediate family killed in the raid.. Now ten she is traded back and needs to be returned to her aunt and uncle, her only surviving relatives. Johanna, wants only to be returned to her Indian tribe, her adopted Indian parents and remembers little about her early life.So they travel together, four hundred miles, and a relationship unlike any other is formed. Endearing, adventurous, descriptive writing, amazing dialogue, much humor, all the things that make a novel so good. The Captain doubts the wisdom of returning Johanna, but he is an honorable man and this is his charged duty. But is that the wisest decision? So this is what we keep reading to find out and along the way we meet many scoundrels, heroes and people who judge without understanding. Just one of those fantastic stories that the reader can't help but take to heart and have a great time along the way.ARC from William Morrow publishers.
    • 5/5
      This is a classic Western tale, from the time when restless, defeated, unpaid Confederate soldier-survivors started calling themselves "cowboys". Captain Kidd is a newsreader - he travels through Texas, stopping in small towns where there's no newspaper to read to townspeople who pay a dime each to hear about not-so-current events from around the world (my dream job!). He is tasked with transporting a ransomed 10 year old Kiowa captive, Johanna, back to her family.Along the journey from Wichita Falls to San Antonio, Johanna's inability to leave behind her Kiowa family (who gave her up because they were being hunted down) after five years as their daughter is problematical for the Captain, but they adapt to each other, saving each other's lives more than once. The Captain's voice is spare and wry, and the travelogue makes the reader yearn to follow their trail, full well knowing that it's all WalMarts etc now.This is a classic, another "True Grit" for our time.
    • 5/5
      Captain Jefferson Kidd must be one of the most endearing characters in U.S. historical fiction. At seventy plus years, he is traveling to the small towns of Texas reading the newspapers to the locals regarding news of various parts of the world; the most exotic, the better. He has been a printer, is widowed and has two daughters "back east." Captain Kidd finds himself in charge of a ten-year old German girl who was taken captive by the Kiowa Indians four years ago. He names her Johanna and starts on the 400 mile journey to return her to her family, which is an aunt and uncle since her parents were killed when she was captured.Johanna is a wild child but with the wisdom beyond her years. She and Captain Kidd encounter a wide assortment of characters on their way south; one who wants to "buy" her. Soon the Captain feels a grandfatherly protection and admiration for the child especially after she helped him ward off four scoundrels by using dimes in place of ammunition. Johanna is eventually reunited with her aunt and uncle who obviously are looking for more a slave than a niece. Captain leaves her, but his conscience will not let him abandon her. Great ending which gives a look into the future of Johanna and her "grandfather" Captain Kidd.A story of a good man told with wit, reality, and insight.
    • 4/5
      We all have images in our heads of the Wild West, gunslingers, and cowboys. All of it is out-sized and iconic But how many of those images grew out of Hollywood movies or TV rather than out of a truth that might be less palatable or slower or not as outrageous? Paulette Jiles' newest novel, News of the World, finds a dreamier, more personal story set in a lawless West that does have a passing resemblance to the one depicted on screens and page but which is also more tempered and truthful feeling.Captain Jefferson Kidd is a widower whose daughters are grown and gone. He was a soldier and a printer. Now retired from both professions, he's an itinerant news reader traveling through small towns reading articles and bringing news of the outside world to remote places in Texas. When he encounters a good man he knows in one of the towns, he agrees to take on returning a ten year old girl, a captive of the Kiowa for four years, to her aunt and uncle many miles away. The young girl, Johanna, doesn't speak English and has forgotten German. She doesn't remember life before joining her Kiowa family and she desperately wants to be returned to them. As they travel towards the white family she doesn't remember, Johanna and "Kep-dun" come to a fragile trust in each other. Kidd is weary and feeling his age. Johanna is fierce in the stoicism learned from her Native family. But ultimately they come to be each other's family, grandfather and granddaughter, on the long road, offering respect, protection, and concern for each other.Jiles has written a slow, deliberate, and beautifully written character study here. In this novel, that sometimes has the hypnotic feel of sitting in a saddle and creaking back and forth along a trail, she has drawn a tale that captures the time, just after the Civil War when tensions were high, and the place, a Texas where the law was sometimes markedly absent, so very well. The characters of Captain Kidd and Johanna are spare and yet full. Kidd's careful selection of the news pieces for each stop on their journey to the Leonberger homestead tells not only the news of the world far from the towns they visit but also very much about the towns themselves. Told almost entirely from Kidd's perspective, with only small insights into Johanna's thoughts, the narrative leaves the child fairly enigmatic but gives the reader more insight into the goodness and personality of Kidd. The novel is quite short, muted, and quiet, despite a couple of scary situations, and it maintains a feeling of rightness and inevitable fatedness throughout its pages. It is not a wild western but a measured, almost hushed, lovely piece of work.
    • 5/5
      Request an ARC, get an ARC, really like said ARC. This a fine new western that reminds any reader that really fine writing can powerfully tell any story. It's got everything you'd want in a good story: guns, horses, Native Americans, seventy-plus old western story tellers, kidnapped children, and lots of heart.
    • 5/5
      6 stars! Best of the Most Recent 100+ Novels I've ReadTexas 1870. Seventy-one year old Civil War vet, Captain Kidd, agrees to return Johanna, a 10 year old girl and captive of the Kiowas for the past four years, to her relatives living near San Antonio. The money is good, though there are some negatives. The journey will be 400 miles and will take 3-4 weeks, the route is extremely dangerous, and the girl wants to return to her Kiowa family. And she no longer understands nor speaks English.There is another upside though. The Captain will have opportunities along the way to do his normal work - reading the news to townspeople. Not from local newspapers, so nothing about bake sales, births, deaths, or worst of all, Texas politics. No, the Captain's niche is world news:"News all the way from France. Nobody knew anything about the Franco-Prussian @War but all were jointly amazed by information that had come across the Atlantic to them, here in North Texas, alongside the flooding Red River. They had no idea how it had got here, through what strange lands it had traveled......He read from the Philadelphia Inquirer of Dr. Schliemann's search for windy Troy in Turkey. He read of the telegraph wires from Britain to India, an article in the Calcutta Times forwarded to the London Daily Telegraph....he read of the unfortunate Hansa crushed on the pack ice of the North Pole....This was proving the most popular as he could see by the small gestures of the audience; they bent forward, they fixed their eyes upon him to hear of undiscovered lands in the kingdoms of ice, fabulous beasts, perils overcome, snow people in furry suits."On the trail the Captain and Johanna have rather casual eating arrangements. One night, over barbecue, the Captain notices that she has sauce up to her wrists. Realizing that they will make stops in small towns like Dallas along the way and that they will be eating in a restaurant, the Captain begins lessons on the proper use of knife and fork. Johanna proves to be more clumsy than expected but the Captain feels some progress was made - until Johanna turns and throws her fork into a box stall. A funny scene but author Paulette Jiles morphs it into something else in the very next paragraph."The Captain's shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch under his black formal coat. He was suddenly overwhelmed with pity for her. Torn from her parents, adopted by a strange culture, given new parents, then sold for a few blankets and some old silverware, now sent to stranger after stranger, crushed into peculiar clothing, surrounded by people of an unknown language and an unknown culture, and now she could not even eat her food without having to use outlandish instruments....He saw her look down at her stained hands and there were tears on her cheeks."There are so many great scenes like the ones mentioned above. It is heart-warming for the reader to witness how the bond between these two slowly develops. But this is 1870's Texas and violence can erupt anywhere, anytime. And so there is a good deal of tension woven throughout the story. Of course, Johanna runs away once or twice, and in the early days the Captain is hesitant to turn his back on her. The tension really amps up though on the trail when coming upon others - the possibilities are endless - outlaws, fellow travelers, soldiers, raiders, vigilantes, Comanche, Kiowa. Such encounters are infrequent but any one of them could have a fatal ending. The girl, the horses, even the Captain can sense, and sometimes smell, the unseen presence of others hidden only a few miles away.....It's a great story, expertly told. A book to be treasured and re-read. This is my first Jiles, and before I had finished it, I added three others by her to my reading list. "News of the World" is short-listed (five books are finalists) for this year's National Book Award which will be announced in November 2016. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This was a short but interesting little read. Set in Texas during Reconstruction, a man who travels the land reading news articles at public gatherings, has an orphan girl who was kidnapped by the Kiowa, foisted upon him to return her to her aunt and uncle.The little girl was taken at age 6 and at age 10 has gone fully native Kiowa. She remembers little English or German (her native tongue) and an aunt and uncle who live south of San Antonio, have commissioned people traveling the road to bring her back.The news reader is an old man now and he and the girl bond through their travels and travails through the newly opened western territories. Along the way they encounter highwaymen, cowboys, merchants, the military and various townspeople. Each encounter assists them or hinders them in their goal to get to Castroville, Texas. The little girl turns out to be handy and resourceful and the relationship blossoms along the trails and roads of Texas.This is not a long book but one I found charming and entertaining. If anything, it may have ended a little abruptly but I encourage readers to pick this one up if the old west and reconstruction era America interest you.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. An amazingly good read about Texas in the wake of the civil war. Captain Kidd volunteers to transport a 10 yr old white girl who has been rescued from the Kiowa Indians after living with them for 4 yrs. They travel 400 miles through unsettled territory, where they encounter danger and learn to rely on and understand each other. This is truly a gem of a story. I felt it was too short, but was definitely satisfied with the ending.
    • 5/5
      Who knew that such a slim book could contain so much? Highly developed, complex characters, vivid plot, poetic language...if you ever find yourself in the mood for a slice of the Old West, look no farther than News of the World. You'll learn some post-Civil War history and get a little Texan cowboys-and-Indians action all while being soaked in some contemplation and introspection. I liked this better than True Grit. 4.5 stars
    • 5/5
      At the beginning of the novel, I found myself annoyed with the lack of quotation marks to indicate dialogue, but the beauty of the writing slowly won me over. Captain Kidd is a bearer of news - the more remote and curious, the better. He ends up uniquely qualified to bring news of his world to a child alienated by horror and adopted into a foreign culture (the Kiowa) and then thrust out from that refuge back into the "civilized" world of early American settlers. Their relationship evolves in a beautiful way, and Captain Kidd is a lovely character.
    • 5/5
      I was captivated by the concept of someone traveling from town to town reading the news. Captain Jefferson Kidd was no stranger to delivering news. At age 16 he carried messages in the War of 1812 by foot and on horseback: "Two years of directed flight across Georgia and the Alabama country, solitary, with his information in hand." "He always recalled those two years with a kind of wonder. As when one is granted the life and the task for which one was meant." In his 70's he continued this calling as a curator of news items chosen from newspapers and read to eager audiences in the new settlements of Texas. The Captain seemed satisfied, if not overtly happy, with the lifestyle of roving newsreader. The author beautifully conveys his appreciation of the open territory and his horse companions. Into his solitary world came upheaval, to put it mildly, when he accepted responsibility for the child, Johanna. His circuit of Texas towns uniquely qualified him to return the 10 year old fair skinned, blue eyed Kiowa captive to her closest relatives 400 miles away. Johanna, brought up in the ways and language of the Kiowa, was again carried away from a life she knew and did not want to leave. Captain Kidd agreed to escort her, taking over from a trader who left him with the warning, "Be really careful." You have to feel for each of them, one a child and one an older man, both rocked by a great change in circumstances. Their journey through the sparsely settled West with its open country and gritty towns becomes an endeavor toward some level of mutual understanding. The writing evokes all of the senses. I savored this book not only for its great plot but for the luscious prose which had not a word out of place. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story, and the characters. Set in 1870, this book tells the story of Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, and the 10 year old girl who was a former captive of the Kiowa, now rescued and being sent to be reunited with her only remaining family in San Antonio. Kidd is in his early 70's, a veteran of two wars, and lost all his savings during the Civil War. Currently he makes a living touring small towns in north and western Texas, reading newspapers from cities far removed, to people who are starved for information about the rest of the world. Johanna has no memories of her German-American family; her identity is that of a Kiowa. When Captain Kidd is offered $50 to transport Johanna from Wichita Falls to an aunt and uncle near San Antonio, he accepts. This is the story of their journey, the struggles along the way, and the bond that develops between them. Both characters were wonderfully drawn, and the author researched the plight of captive children and their difficulties with re-assimilation. I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing, and from Harper Collins.
    • 4/5
      He survived the Civil War and now Captain Jefferson Kidd travels Texas Hill Country performing readings of news stories much like an itinerant preacher riding the circuit. He soon finds himself with a young Kiowa captive that he plans to return to her German American family - as a favor and for silver. How this kindly, elderly printer and news reader becomes a stand-in grandfather to a scared, ten year old former Indian captive and tries to ease her re-entry to the 'civilized' world makes for a touching, interesting and highly readable novel. As in other Paulette Jiles novels the reader gets vignettes of Texas life following the Civil War, the strife between competing factions of North and South that have survived the end of the conflict, and the taming of Texas that includes skirmishes with Native Americans who fight hard for their lands. Her books focus on people and how they engage with each other and also with themselves to discover what it is that makes them free to live their lives, what actions are important to living a good life and walking the path of righteousness. Never preachy nor religious in nature, Jiles' books (and this is no exception) have everyday heroes who become exceptional through their actions - just as the Captain does in News of the World. Protecting a child, nurturing Johanna as he calls her and recognizing in this young child that spark, so many others would try taming into civility and ordinariness, becomes a key element of this novel. Johanna's ingenuity knows no bounds and you'll never look at a dime the same way after you read this novel.So take the trip with The Captain and Johanna and learn about the joy of friendship, the bond between grandfather and grandchild, extraordinary tidbits about childhood captives and Texas in the post Civil War period. An entertaining and enlightening read!
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this beautifully written story of the friendship that develops between an elderly man, Jefferson Kidd, and Johanna Leonberger, the 10 year old white girl who had been "rescued" from the Kiowa in 1870 North Texas after she had lived as their captive for four years. He was hired to return her 400 miles through areas full of all sorts of dangers.The spare, poetic language gave the whole book a dreamlike quality and amount of research that went into the book made me feel as if I had entered North Texas during Reconstruction, but it never felt like it was researched. I live in North Texas and had heard much about this time, which seems so far removed from the present day. The elderly man, Jefferson Kidd, makes his living as an itinerant reader of newspapers bringing stories of enchanted lands far away. It makes me realize the truthfulness of the L.P. Hartley's statement, "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."
    • 5/5
      Paulette Jiles is a new author for me and after reading News of the World, I hope to read more of her work. Her writing is exquisite. This is historical fiction with a beautiful, heart-wrenching story. The bonding between the two protagonists is lovely to read.The setting is 1870 in Texas after the Civil War. Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 72-year-old veteran of three wars and a former printer, travels through cities and towns to read the world news to anyone who will listen. He makes his living by charging 10 cents per person. People are hungry for news and there are few ways of getting it. As he travels, Kidd is asked and paid to escort 10-year-old Johanna to her relatives many miles away. She was kidnapped at age 3 by the Kiowa Indians and wants to remain a Kiowa. With a rebellious girl who speaks no English, the start of the journey is not pleasant for Kidd. There was suspense as they encounter many hardships on their journey, not to mention all the outlaws and unsavory characters. But as they keep going forward, they bond as though they were grandfather and granddaughter. This is a short novel in which the author does a great job of describing the scenes and the difficulties people had to endure during that era. A wonderful novel!
    • 4/5
      One advantage to picking titles for my book discussion groups is it lets me catch up on ones I had meant to read, but never seemed to find the time. I loved the idea of someone traveling around the small towns of Texas reading the latest news from newspapers around the country and world. Captain Kidd and Johanna are such great characters and as unlikely a pair as they made on the surface had a bond stronger than most by the end. I can't wait to see what my two groups think of it.
    • 4/5
      Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd has survived some of the bloodiest battles in America's short history. Now, in 1870 the widowed Captain spends his time travelling and reading news from around the world to paying audiences. In Wichita Falls, he is called into service once again; but this time he isn't carrying news. Four years earlier, the Kiowa Indians slaughtered a family and took a six-year-old girl captive. She has been raised in the Kiowa culture, forgotten most of the English language and now has been re-captured to be returned to her aunt and uncle in Castroville, Texas. Captain Kidd takes on the wild, young Johanna for the 400 mile journey. Knowing nothing of the civilized world, Johanna is confused and upset, and keeping her safe and secure proves to be a challenge during the dangerous journey. However, as they progress the Captain and Johanna form a strong bond.I loved the premise of this book, an older and wiser Captain Kidd taking in a young captive. Johanna's story, which is based on many true accounts of captive children who are returned to their original lives, captivated me. Johanna's journey in her mind was far more dangerous than their journey on the road. Johanna went through many emotional and psychological changes. We get a few insights into what is going on in her head, but not many. I feel like Johanna's inner dialogue would have been the most interesting; however the writing was done in third person, so we only get a few snippets. One quote that did stick out to me was: "It was not worth being alive when one was alone among aliens." The Captain's gentle, compassionate and patient nature with Johanna was wonderful to read about, without him, I'm sure she would not have survived. News of the World also gave me a great sense of what life was like in post-civil war Texas as the unlikely duo traveled from North to South throughout the state. This was a wonderful overview of the dangers, the people and the landscape of Texas at the time. This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      A very quick read about Captain Jefferson Kidd, an older man tasked with returning a 10-year-old girl to her family in 1870. Johanna had been stolen and raised for four years by Kiowan Indians (her family was killed) and her remaining relatives live in Texas. The years in captivity/living with her Indian family have erased much of her early childhood memories and she no longer behaves or thinks like a white person. Capt. Kidd makes his living reading the news and telling the stories to people in small towns as he travels. The beauty of this story is watching The Captain and Johanna grow slowly closer. There is humor and adventure and the newspaper topics were an interesting glimpse into history. I liked this book very much, but did not find it as remarkable as some others did. 3.5
    • 4/5
      In this beautifully crafted post-Civil War novel, Captain Kidd, in his 70's, spends his days traveling through northern Texas and holding gatherings where he reads aloud from world newspapers. He leads a solitary life as a widower with two grown daughters who live in the east. Things take a dramatic turn for him when he takes on the job of returning a 10 year old girl to her family more than 400 miles away. Johanna was captured by Kiowa Indians after witnessing the brutal murder of her parents and sister, and she has completely absorbed her Indian family and culture. The challenge is for the Captain to try to tame her enough to survive their travels, and for the two of them to survive the variety of hardships and dangers on the very long and arduous journey. Although this novel is relatively short (209 pages), it's well worth taking plenty of time to enjoy the skillful and lyrical writing.
    • 4/5
      Set in Texas in 1870, this is the story of a journey taken by 72 year old Captain Jefferson Kidd and 10 year old Johanna Leonberger. The Captain has been asked to return Johanna to her aunt and uncle, after her having spent the last four years living with the Kiowa tribe. Johanna's story was really heartbreaking. Her parents were killed, she was then bartered away from her new Kiowa family, only to be passed from stranger to stranger to complete her trip home to relatives who she didn't remember. She was now essentially a Kiowa and could no longer speak English or understand the ways of her family. The Captain (a wonderful character) was a widower who led an itinerant life going to small towns to stage readings of newspapers of the world, to people who otherwise had no access to these papers and/or were unable to read them. After initially feeling stuck with Johanna, it was touching to see the bond that developed between them. She gave renewed purpose to his life and he was the only protector that she had. Not that she needed that much protection, because Johanna was a fierce, resilient little warrior. Along the way, the two had to evade Texas political squabbles, Indians with rifles and sinister gunmen who trailed them. I know nothing about the history of Texas and I don't read many westerns, so a lot of the politics and terms were unfamiliar to me, for example, what are "stampede strings" and "Mother Hubbard saddles"? However, I thought the book was very well written and I loved the language and tempo and atmosphere of this book. I read an advance electronic copy of this book, so it is possible that some of my quibbles with it will either be corrected in the editing or were artifacts of this version. My main problems were that some things were described numerous times, like the Captain's work clothes or the color of Johanna's hair. Once I'm told she's blond, that's really all I need to know. I also didn't like the fact that no quotation marks were used around dialogue. I don't know whether that was a mistake in my digital ARC or a stylistic choice, but I found it irritating. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 4/5
    • A LitFic Western in which an older gentleman ekes out a living by going from town to town reading selected newspaper articles to audiences (each listener pays ten cents.) Along the way, he manages to pick up an unusual cargo to deliver to a couple in South Texas: A ten-year old German girl who had been kidnapped by the Kiowa when she was six. Much of the writing seems oddly removed from the drama or passions that you might expect from the story; but then Paulette Jiles will hit you with an extremely powerful phrase or passage that galvanizes the reader to the page.
    • LitFic Western based on an oral history of Captain Kydd, a Cilvil War veteran who went on to become a public reader (someone who went from town to town reading newspaper articles to rural communities.) In this short re-telling, Captain Kidd is now saddled with a ten-year old girl who had been kidnapped by the Kiowas when she was six. His job is to return her to her aunt and uncle... Beautiful passages that paint the landscape, and great action scenes, though the characters feel "distant," and overall the novel feels like a novelization of a movie, albeit, a really great movie :-)
  • 4/5
    The pacing really makes the reader understand how slow traveling by horse and wagon had to be. Captain Kidd, former printer and traveling new announcer, is saddled with a young girl recaptured from the Kiowa Indians just after the American Civil War. It is a painstakingly slow trip faced with weather, equipment, and human problems. The style is a bit unusual with its lack of quotations to offset the dialogue.

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    News of the World - Paulette Jiles

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