The time is post-Civil War, the place is Texas and the plot is 70-year-old Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd - guardian of a 10-year-old girl, Johanna Leonberger, rescued from Kiowa Indian captivity by the U.S. Army. Living in the Information Age this is also a story about a time when news was a rare commodity, literacy was equally rare and when an expert news reader like Captain Kidd both entertained and informed his audiences.
Following a reading in Wichita Falls, freed black men give Kidd the $50 reward to return Johanna to her aunt and uncle who live outside of San Antonio. Despite grave reservations the Captain agrees to make the journey. Kidd and Johanna start the 400 mile trek fraught with peril at the hands of bandits, floods and Comanche raiders. Johanna is a non-English-speaking girl who for all intents and purposes considers herself Kiowa and does not have the slightest desire to return. During their journey a morality tale unfolds with lessons in truth, courage and trust resulting in a true bond.
Having devoured the Lonesome Dove series of tales by Larry McMurtry I couldn’t help but grow to like the two principle characters much as Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call.
News of the World – by Paulette Jiles
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