Join us for West Branch's monthly book dis cussion group. We read a variety of contemporary fiction and non-fiction a nd meet once a month for a thoughtful discussion. Contact discussion leade r Becky Clark at 630-264-3431 for a copy of the book or the list of curren t chosen titles.
\nBook description:
\nIt is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas\, giving live readings to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who h as 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. Fou r years earlier\, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna&rsquo\;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 thro ugh unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at ti mes dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language\, tries to escap e at every opportunity\, throws away her shoes\, and refuses to act &ldquo \;civilized.&rdquo\; Yet as the miles pass\, the two lonely survivors tent atively begin to trust each other\, forging a bond that marks the differen ce between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antoni o\, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johann a over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember&mdash\;strangers who reg ard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man\, Captain Kidd is faced w ith a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become&mdash\;in th e eyes of the law&mdash\;a kidnapper himself. Exquisitely rendered and mor ally complex\, News of the World is a brilliant work of historica l fiction that explores the boundaries of family\, responsibility\, honor\ , and trust. (publisher description)
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