Charged with transporting four women, minds broken by the hardships of the frontier, Mary Bee Cuddy enlists the reluctant help of a dispossessed claim jumper to help her.
Well, not enlists exactly. More like blackmails, since George Briggs escaped a slow hanging only due to Mary Bee's efforts. The unlikely partners then commence a tedious journey east toward Iowa, fighting each other, their occasionally raging passengers, the weather, and the land itself.
Swarthout keeps it honest. This is an 'African Queen' set in 1850s Nebraska, but George Briggs is no Charlie Allnutt -- he may drag their conveyance across the miles by main force and stubbornness, but will not reveal a heart of gold at the end, nor will he set up for happy-ever-after with Mary Bee.
This is a fine and honest book, honored by the Western Writers of America in 1988 as the "Best Historical Western" of the year. Thirty years later, it still wears the laurel well.
Well, not enlists exactly. More like blackmails, since George Briggs escaped a slow hanging only due to Mary Bee's efforts. The unlikely partners then commence a tedious journey east toward Iowa, fighting each other, their occasionally raging passengers, the weather, and the land itself.
Swarthout keeps it honest. This is an 'African Queen' set in 1850s Nebraska, but George Briggs is no Charlie Allnutt -- he may drag their conveyance across the miles by main force and stubbornness, but will not reveal a heart of gold at the end, nor will he set up for happy-ever-after with Mary Bee.
This is a fine and honest book, honored by the Western Writers of America in 1988 as the "Best Historical Western" of the year. Thirty years later, it still wears the laurel well.
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