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The Oklahoma Territory is a bleak, brutal place in 1894, especially for Tom Freshour, a half-Indian who knows nothing of the world beyond the orphanage where he’s been raised by a sadistic minister who forces him to bear witness to a botched public hanging. But Tom is about to get a bracing education, thanks especially to two people: Jake Jaycox, an aging hardware salesman who takes Tom under his wing, and Samantha King, a beautiful, mysterious woman who attaches herself to the two men and promptly seduces Tom.
The adventures of this colorful trio begin with a horrific flood—but the story turns darker when Tom and his companions run afoul of a scheme to steal thousands of acres from depression-ravaged farmers. Before long, they are being chased by a hired killer—and Tom’s searing memories of his childhood drive him back to the orphanage and a violent confrontation with the man who made him a whipping boy. As Tom learns more about the world around him, he suspects that the real villains in this unforgiving territory may not be the outlaws with six-guns, but the businessmen who will do anything to amass wealth and property.
“A rollicking page-turner. I read it once with a fierce compulsion to find out what would happen, a second time for the pleasure of the language and craft.” —Wally Lamb, author of She’s Come Undone
“Here is the real West in its lurid twilight—the Oklahoma Indian Territory when the last land grab was under way. Here too is a good mystery [and] a bawdy romance. . . . Every vignette of frontier life—flood, train wreck, blizzard, bank, brother, or church—is authentic.” —Will Baker, author of Hell, West, and Crooked
“Brings alive the pain and shame of a little-read chapter of history, when greed ruled, thievery wore a frock coat, and guile was the governing virtue.” —Charles Gusewelle, columnist, The Kansas City Star
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 2, 2013 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780547524139
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780547524139
- File size: 1512 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 2, 1994
Tom Freshour, the mixed-blood teenaged hero of this engaging story set in the waning days of the last century, is a product of the Choctaw Indian orphanage in the Oklahoma Territory, where he has grown up living an insular life subjected to military-style discipline and regular beatings. When he and the other boys are taken to Fort Smith, Ark., to witness a hanging--a lesson in criminal justice inflicted by the minister in charge of the orphanage--Tom is offered a job as errand boy to a hardware salesman. The minister gladly sheds responsibility for the teenager, and Tom is given to Jake Jaycox, an aging, soft-hearted drummer with whom the lad becomes fast friends. As the pair ply the trade between Oklahoma and Arkansas, Tom discovers ``civilization,'' racism and sex. Aiding in his coming of age is Samantha King, a provocative ``older'' woman who, through a bizarre mishap, becomes attached to the selling pair. Benefiting from extensive research by Morgan, a writing professor at the University of Missouri and author ( Belle Starr ), the book nicely captures the atmosphere of Indian Territory and environs nearly 100 years ago. -
April 15, 1994
Set in the Oklahoma Territory in 1894, this is the story of an unlikely trio: good-natured hardware salesman Jake, a half-Indian orphan named Tom, and Samantha King, a mysterious but compelling young woman. The story unfolds slowly; at first, only Jake is fully developed, but gradually Tom's background is sketched in and Sam's history uncovered. As these two come into focus along with Jake, the novel picks up speed, and what seemed at first like a tame attempt to take over the hardware store is revealed as a sinister plot to steal thousands of acres of land from poor Indians and farmers. Can the intrepid threesome foil this plot? Suspense builds nicely, and readers who stick with the story through the slow start will have an enjoyable read enhanced by the bleakly challenging Western landscape that lends an authentic feel to this tale by the author of The Assemblers (Dutton, 1986; Harlequin, 1989. reprint). Recommended.-Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y.
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