Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

Here, is the eagerly awaited prequel to Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Lonesome Dove. In Streets of Laredo he bought the story ahead, giving us Woodrow Call in his old age; in Dead Man's Walk, he takes the reader back, to the days when Woodrow Call and his friend Gus McCrae - surely two of the most beloved figures in American fiction - were young Rangers, first confronting the wild frontier that will form their lives. Danger, hardship, sacrifice, pain and fear test them to the limits of endurance; friendship, comradeship, courage and love give them the strength to survive and be cheerful against fearful odds.

In Dead Man's Walk Woodrow and Gus are not yet twenty; young Rangers in the days when Texas was still an independent republic. Having volunteered to join the forces of the capricious land pirate Caleb Cobb in a foolhardy attempt to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans, they experience their first great adventure, in the barren, empty landscape in which shocking violence appears out of nowhere, whether from nature or Indians. Though their eyes, we meet the great Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump (one of McMurtry's most compelling creations), his companion Kicking Wolf, who specialises in prolonged torture, the deadly Apache child-stealer Gomez. It is these formidable figures - cruel, swift and almost invisible - who confront and eventually defeat Caleb Cobb's expedition, plus most of the Mexican army. Woodrow and Gus's companions include Matilda Roberts, a whore known as The Great Western, and Bigfoot Wallace, the famous scout. The wildness of the Frontier and the men who live there - the Indians defending it with savagery, the Texans attempting to seize and 'civilize' it, the Mexicans threatened by both - are at the heart of Larry McMurtry's extraordinary novel, at once a profound work of literature and one of the most riveting adventure stories of all time.

I first read Lonesome Dove years ago, not long after the mini series came out in fact, so that makes it..what..nearly 20 years ago. Since that time, I either didn't hear that Larry McMurtry had gone on to write further books in the series or just didn't take any notice. With my participation in the Pulitzer Project where the goal is to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winners, I figure now is as good a time as any to reread Lonesome Dove (hereafter referred to as LD) which one the award in 1986, but if I was going to do that, then I wanted to be sure to have started at the beginning of the story, and so I found myself reading this book.

Part of my difficulty in writing this review, is that I am comparing the writing and atmosphere in this book to a book I read so many years ago and remember absolutely loving, but not remembering much else in terms of specifics. It could therefore be that some of the issues that I had in reading this book were already present in LD and I just didn't remember them.

The narrative in Dead Man's Walk takes us back, way back, to where Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are very young men - twenty years of age - and they are just setting out on their first adventures as Texas Rangers. Gus is impulsive, smooth talking and restless, Woodrow more of a thinker and less hotheaded but when he loses his temper he really loses it. Also travelling with them are a number of other colourful characters including the whore Matilda Roberts (known as the Great Western) who alternates between a prostitute and a mother figure during the novel (but is portrayed to have such bravery and put up with an awful lot), various trackers and Indian hunters.

After a disastrous first trip where the Rangers find themselves hunted by the vicious Indian chief Buffalo Hump, the boys join up for another adventure - this time a raid against Santa Fe which at that time was held by the Mexicans. This time they have not only Buffalo Hump and his cohorts to deal with, but also Gomez (an Apache warrior) and Mother Nature, all the while being lead by a man who only had marginally more experience than themselves.

In many ways the events in this book try and include as many of the things that we have come to expect from Westerns - there are Indian raids, scalpings, there are crazy Ranger leaders, there are whores (oh my...are there whores - Gus in particular is constantly obsessed with them), there are Mexicans, wild animals, wild weather. In fact, you name it. Anything that could go wrong on a journey across the wilds of colonial America does and McMurtry doesn't skimp on any of the gruesome details. He also has no heart for the minor characters he has created as he kills them off with reckless abandon - each method of death more and more gruesome.

Then there is an ending which whilst is has the desired effect of getting our two heroes out of the predicament that they found themselves in, seems a somewhat strange resolution to that problem.

For me, whilst this was an interesting read, it wasn't the compelling, touching tale that I remember LD to be. There are definitely glimpses within the characters of Gus and Call where you can see the men that were loved by so many in LD, and the colours and drama of the Wild West definitely came to life, but maybe in a slightly too surreal fashion.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series, which I believe is Comanche Moon.

Cover Story: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

It was something of a surprise to me to go to the book store tonight and see that Philippa Gregory's newest book, The Other Queen is out here (here being in Australia). Here's the blurb:

A dramatic novel of passion, politics and betrayal from the author of The Other Boleyn Girl, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, fights to regain her kingdom whilst under the guard of Queen Elizabeth's trusted accomplice, Bess of Hardwick Mary is Queen of Scotland but she has been forced to flee her land and take refuge in an England that is ruled by her cousin Elizabeth. But England, precarious in its Protestant state, set against the mighty powers of Spain, France and Rome, doesn't need a charismatic Catholic figurehead at large. So Elizabeth's chief advisor, Cecil, devises a plan in which Mary will live under guard with his trusted accomplice: Bess of Hardwick. Bess is a self-made woman, a shrewd survivor. She is newly married to her fourth and most distinguished husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury. But what marriage can withstand the charms of Mary? Or the threat of rebellion that she always carries? Mary must wait in her privileged imprisonment for the return to Scotland and her infant son; but waiting is not the same as doing nothing!With her characteristic combination of superb storytelling and authentic historical background, Philippa Gregory brings to life this period of great change in her final novel in the Tudor series.

Why is it a surprise? Well, because last time I heard, the UK release had been pushed back to around August, so that it was closer to the original US release date which I believe is September.

I have to say that having now seen the UK cover up close, it still does absolutely nothing for me! The US cover is kind of generic looking but preferable to the very drab UK cover.



Which do you prefer?

Churchill's Triumph by Michael Dobbs

World War II is about to end when the world's three most powerful men gather at Yalta in the Soviet Crimea: an idealistic and exhausted Franklin Roosevelt, a dyspeptic and feisty Winston Churchill and a brutal Joseph Stalin. Once proud allies, they will lie and cheat and deceive each other. And, while doing so, they will change both the map of Europe and its destiny.

In this riveting historical novel, you become a fly on the wall of history. For those fatal eight days at Yalta, you are privy to the heart and mind of England's prime minister, who hopes he has enough strength to negotiate with the Russian dictator and enough whiskey to last the week. Carrying the burden of history, he becomes Europe's conscience, when, to save the peace agreed to at Yalta, he must decide whether or not to commit a devastating act of betrayal.

It's hard to tell from the number of reviews that I have been posting, but I am actually reading. In the last week or so I have read two books by Michael Dobbs about Winston Churchill. The first was Never Surrender (the second book in the Winston Churchill series) and then pretty much straight after I finished that book I read this one, which is the fourth book in the series. I really can't stand reading series out of order, but once I had finished this one it was off to the library to pick up the first book in the series so that I can finish it off!

The author follows a similar set up as he did in Never Surrender - taking a short period of time and examining the events, and then interweaving those historical events with the events taking place in the life of a fictional character.

In this case, the event that is being focused on is the Yalta Conference that was held between 4 and 11 February 1945 in the Crimea. The conference was a meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill where decisions were made that affected the fate of millions of lives across Europe, and influenced the political landscape for many, many years.

The three most powerful world leaders are portrayed as all being very much concerned with their own agendas - for the ailing Roosevelt his main objective is to get the United Nations up and running, for Churchill it is try and prevent the march of communism across all of Europe and for Stalin it is gain as much land as he possibly can.

There are secret meetings, lavish and drunken dinners, spying on each other, and grand showmanship as each of the leaders tries to meet their own goals, and at times, it seems as though those ideals are worth a great deal more than the lives of the people that will be affected.

Churchill is also aware that the British star is fading a little, in terms of power and prestige in the eyes of the world. Whilst they can hold their head up in terms of their actions in World War II, in hindsight, it is clear that the seeds were being planted for the Cold War where the US and the Soviet Union were the super powers.

The fictional character is a young Polish man, who is trying to escape from the Soviet Union where a man can get arrested for no real reason at all. He has taken on a dead man's identity, and as we see him try to find a new life in the west, we are also privy to the events that are taking place in Poland, as firstly the German Army leaves the war devastated country and as the Soviet 'liberators' move in to take their place. Let's just say that neither army appears to have treated the locals particularly well.

Where this book did lose a little focus in my opinion was in the very beginning and very end where the novel moved forward in setting approximately twenty years, and Churchill, now a very old man, is taking a cruise in the Mediterranean and meets a ghost from the past. Whilst the initial drama is provided through a Churchill family argument, this initial theme seemed to get lost somewhat through the rest of the book. Maybe it was a carry on from the events in the third book. I guess I will only tell when I get around to reading the third book.

Once again this was another very interesting read, featuring some of the most famous historical figures from WWII, an era that I already find fascinating.

Sourcebooks are about to rerelease this book in the US. Thanks to them for the review copy.

Extraordinary Canadians

After reviewing the book about Nellie McClung, I got a bit distracted with the website for the Extraordinary Canadians series. So, now I am going to share just how fabulous this series is. This is not just for Canadians, though, I promise.

David Adams Richards wrote a book on Lord Beaverbrook. It is out right now.

Millionaire lumber man, financier, press baron, Max Aitken always attracted both approval and criticism in equal measure. He was an irrepressible entrepreneur, rising from modest beginnings in New Brunswick to become the world's most powerful newspaperman and a British Lord by the age of forty. He counselled kings and statesmen, bedded scores of women, supported Canadian art, and became Winston Churchill's invaluable wartime minister. Yet despite his loyalty and service to the British empire, Beaverbrook was mostly derided by English society as an overly ambitious colonial. Novelist David Adams Richards, the bard of Miramichi, brings unique insight into the life of his fellow New Brunswicker, Max Aitken, reminding us of why he mattered then, and why he matters now.

The cover is by Robert Carter.

Lewis DeSoto wrote a book on Emily Carr. It is also out right now.

Emily Carr defies easy description. Painter, writer, world traveller, adventurer—she was also an original, a rebel, a free spirit, and a visionary mystic. She is one of those unique individuals, those few, who have created and articulated the symbols and images by which Canada knows itself. Lewis DeSoto, himself an award-winning novelist and painter, follows Carr's trajectory from novice art student to a mature and utterly distinctive artist. He argues that her powerful paintings encompass the many aspects of her life: the passionate engagement with the West Coast landscape, her determination to forge a modern Canadian artistic sensibility, her fascination with Indian motifs, and her spirituality. With bold strokes and nuanced shadings, DeSoto's portrait captures the genius of Carr, reminding us of why she mattered then, and why she matters now.

The cover is by Jody Hewgill.

Rudy Wiebe did a book on Big Bear. It will be out in September.

Since the publication of Rudy Wiebe's 1973 Governor General's Award–winning novel, The Temptations of Big Bear, there has been much new scholarship about the Plains Cree chief who tried to ensure the survival of his people. In Big Bear, Wiebe revisits the life of the First Nations statesman who believed in negotiation and the rule of law over violence.

The cover is by George Littlechild.




M.J. Vassanji wrote on Mordecai Richler. This book will also be out in September.

Mordecai Richler was a Quebec author. He wrote books such as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

The artist is Vladymyr Yakobchuk.


Andrew Cohen wrote on Lester B. Pearson. Another book that will be out in September.

Andrew Cohen's previous books have focused on who we are at home and who we are in the wider world. As the author of While Canada Slept, an account of how Canada has slipped in its role as a strong diplomatic force in the world, Cohen is the perfect writer to assess the legacy of Lester Bowles Pearson. Pearson, who served as Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968, was a former diplomat whose peace-brokering during the 1957 Suez Crisis brought Canada to the world stage in international affairs and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

The artist for this cover is Joseph Salina.

The rest of the series does not have release dates, but the authors and subjects are as follows:

Margaret MacMilan writes on Stephen Leacock.
Andre Pratte writes on Sir Wilfred Laurier.
Daniel Poliquin writes on René Lévesque.
Adrienne Clarkson writes on Norman Bethune.
Jane Urquhart writes on L.M. Montgomery.
Mark Kingwell writes on Glenn Gould.
Douglas Coupland writes on Marshall McLuhan.
Nino Ricci writes on Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Joseph Boyden writes on Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont.
John Ralston Saul writes on Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin.
Vincent Lam writes on Tommy Douglas.

Some more of the awesome covers:

By Sandra Dionisi:












By Anita Kunz:












By Joe Morse:












By Shelley Adler:












I think this series is fabulous! I will be posting more on it as more info comes out, of course. The website is: www.extraordinarycanadians.com.

Nellie McClung by Charlotte Gray

Feminist, politician, and social activist, Nellie McClung altered Canada's political landscape, leaving a legacy that has long survived her. She had a wicked wit, and her convictions and campaigns helped shape the Canada we live in today. Acclaimed writer Charlotte Gray, who has forged a distinguished career exploring the lives of such notable women as Susanna Moodie and Pauline Johnson, is the perfect writer to reinterpret McClung.

Penguin Canada has this series out right now that I am so excited about. It is called 'Extraordinary Canadians' and it is biographies of famous Canadians from the past. I love Canadian history, and the authors of these biographies are some of Canada's current best-selling authors. I see there are two more out, so you know I will be buying them. I imagine I will be collecting the whole series, so I just wanted to take a moment to thank whoever came up with this! It really is an awesome idea.

I bought this book because it was by Charlotte Gray, who is one of my favourite non-fiction authors. She wrote the fabulous book I read last year about Alexander Graham Bell. I also have always been intrigued by Nellie McClung because she was one of the women that was important in the feminist movement in Canada. She was my kind of person, so to see a book out about her written by an author I really enjoy, you know that I had to pick it up.

Nellie McClung says things like this:

In Canada we are developing a pattern of life, and I know something about one block of that pattern. I know it for I helped to make it, and I can say that now without any pretense of modesty, or danger of arrogance, for I know that we who make the patterns are not important, but the pattern is...

Nellie McClung was a fighter. She was one of the women involved in the Person's Case, for example. This was where women were not considered people, and thus were not able to vote. Her and four other women banded together to petition government to have this changed. McClung's role in this is the thing she is most commonly remembered for. These five women became the Famous Five, and it is because of women like them that Canadian women have the lifestyles that they have nowadays. I learned a lot from this book. I will admit that I know a lot about the Famous Five, but as a group. I had never taken the time to read individual accounts of these women, and I am glad that I finally stepped out of my comfort zone. Nellie did a lot of things that were really interesting to read about. She was a very vibrant woman that makes me proud to be born in the country that she fought so hard for. A very modern woman in many ways, she makes for a fun read.

I am really glad that I read this book. Nellie McClung deserves way more recognition than she receives. She is an essential part of Canadian history and we are still enjoying aspects of what she fought so hard for today. I recommend this book!

Fires of Winter - Roberta Gellis

I am a big fan of Roberta Gellis medieval romances. Although she is better known for her Roselynde Chronicles whenever I find one of her books I always feel pretty happy and save them for a rainy day.

Melusine of Ulle, daughter of Scottish nobility, is given in marriage to Bruno of Jernaeve, who secures her land for his sovereign, King David. Born enemies, the pair has an inauspicious beginning when Melusine attempts to kill her new husband on their wedding night. But what makes this more than just a story of two people's rocky relationship is Gellis's wonderful style. Alternating chapters are written from the perspective of husband and wife, the work is historically accurate, and the narrative is sensitive and insightful. For Gellis fans, the fact that some characters appeared in Tapestry of Dreams makes this work all the richer.

This story is set during Stephen de Blois' reign and develops during its ongoing war with the Empress Matilda. The first half of the book is dedicated more to the relationship between the hero and the heroine. Growing up as the daughter of a noble family for her and as an illegitimate son of a noble man for him. They meet in less that happy circumstances as Bruno, a knight in King Stephen's entourage, is invading Melusine's keep as her father and brother have turned traitor. The King and Queen Maud decide a marriage of convenience for them and one could say that this more romantic side of the story continues till they come to terms with each other.

The second half is about the fight for power and the political movements of the period. How Stephen alienated his brother's support who went to Matilda and how after Matilda and Robert of Gloucester invaded Germany and eventually fought till they imprisoned King Stephen. He would end up being released when Queen Maud imprisons Robert of Gloucester planning and exchange between them but it led to Henry, son of Matilda, being sworn heir to the throne of England after Stephen's death. Bruno follows King Stephen's actions on the field and shares his imprisonment and Melusine stays in attendance of Queen Maud thus presenting different perspectives of what’s happening around them. The book has one particularity I have not seen often, each chapter is written in the first person but alternating between Bruno and Melusine. This means we have their different views regarding what's happening, sometimes their different views on the situation they are in.

Gellis is really good at delivering interesting, true to their period, characters and in immersing her story in history. It made for a very interesting read!

Grade: B

Never Surrender by Michael Dobbs

This stunning historical novel brings you deep inside Winston Churchill's mind and heart as he becomes Prime Minister and takes on the terrifying challenge of halting Hitler's murderous invasion of France, Holland and Belgium with only his wits and his magnificent words. Only his courage stands between the people of the British Isles and advancing enemy armies as they drive his retreating soldiers onto the beaches of Dunkirk and into the English Channel. You will live at Churchill's side as he deals with his own feelings of inadequacy while contending with his fellow ministers, who plot to throw him out of office. And you will be the fly on the wall of history as he matches wits with Hitler in the most crucial battlefield of all, the battlefield of the mind.

Whilst I have read a number of books set in WWII where the main characters interact with many of the famous real life figures, this is the first time that I remember reading a book where the main characters are the real life historical figures. One of the advantages of this is that even though I have not read much about Churchill, for example, I very much already had a picture in my mind of the character, of what he looked like and yes, that also means some preconceptions about some of his characteristics.

This book is actually the second book in a series of four that concentrates on a number of incidents during the war to give us a picture of the man who led Britain during the darkest days of WWII. This book concentrates on the days just after Churchill finally became Prime Minister, and then follows the events as they unfold over the next three weeks, a period which includes the evacuation at Dunkirk, and the famous speech that was given in the House of Commons following the evacuation:

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"

There were a number of things within the book which surprised me. I did not know that Churchill was so universally disliked by his political opponents, and yet it seemed that the tenaciousness that made him a challenging personal opponent was the very thing that Britain as a country needed to lead them against the deadly foe that was Hitler.

Don't get me wrong...this book is not some rosy eyed look at Churchill. This is a man who is portrayed as thinking nothing of giving a briefing to his staff whilst in the bath. A man who wanted to attack at all cost despite the disobedience of his generals, when in the end, it was only in retreating that the British even managed to live on to fight another day.

Whilst it is primarily a book about Churchill and WWII it is also a book about fathers and sons. Churchill seems haunted by his father - his political life and his personal relationship with him - always trying to act in such a way as to possibly exceed his father's seemingly low expectations for him.

In addition, threaded throughout the story, there is also a relationship between another father and son. Don Chichester is a non combatant stationed initially in Belgium, working in the Royal Ambulance Corp. As Churchill makes decisions as to where the troops must go, Don is the human face that portrays the effect of those decisions. He had joined up as a non-combatant, much to the shame of his vicar father, Henry, and the two have parted barely on speaking terms. Truth be told, this storyline was the weaker of the two major plotlines, but it did enable us to be part of the defense of Calais, the mad scramble to get to Dunkirk, and then to be on the beaches of Dunkirk waiting to see if the Navy was going to be able to rescue the thousands of troops there, who were basically sitting targets for the German fighter pilots.

I very nearly said that I didn't want to review this one when I was offered it last year, but definitely am glad that I said yes. Not long ago I was offered the fourth book in this series (which I will review in the next few days), so I thought I should hurry up and read this one, despite the fact that it isn't the first book! I am definitely planning to pick up the other books to fill in the gaps. Thanks to Sourcebooks for providing me with a copy of this book.