There is no knowing what lies in a man's heart. On a trip to buy ponies, Frank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street for a horse, $150 cash, and two Californian gold pieces. Ross's unusually mature and single-minded fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie travels to claim his body, and finds that the authorities are doing nothing to find Chaney. Then she hears of Rooster - a man, she's told, who has grit - and convinces him to join her in a quest into dark, dangerous Indian territory to hunt Chaney down and avenge her father's murder.
Of the westerns I’ve read, none have the voice that Mattie has here. A classic for a reason. The movies are great, but the book is still better. Also, color me surprised that this is actually set in the south, not the west. This whole time, even seeing both movies, I never knew.
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24 May, 2019:
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