Author: Paulette Jiles
- Fiction
- Editorial Almuzara
- ISBN: 9788418578120
- Release Date: 10-06-2021
Synopsis
Concluida la guerra de Secesión, el capitán Jefferson Kyle Kidd se dedica a viajar por el norte de Texas leyendo artículos de prensa a un público ávido por conocer las noticias del mundo. Les habla de presidentes y reinas, de luchas gloriosas, devastadoras catástrofes y apasionantes aventuras que tienen lugar en cualquier rincón del orbe. El capitán, un viudo entrado en años que ha vivido tres guerras y combatido en dos, disfruta de su solitaria y desarraigada existencia cuando le ofrecen una moneda de cincuenta dólares de oro por devolver a una niña huérfana a sus parientes de San Antonio. Cuatro años antes, una banda de kiowas había matado a los padres y a la hermana de la pequeña Johanna; a ella la dejaron con vida y la criaron como a uno de los suyos.
Ahora, la niña de diez años, recién rescatada por el ejército, es arrancada de nuevo del único hogar que conoce. El viaje al sur a través de cuatrocientas millas de inhóspito territorio va a ser difícil y peligroso. Johanna, que había olvidado incluso su lengua materna, intenta escapar apenas se le presenta oportunidad y se niega a comportarse de modo «civilizado». No obstante, a medida que progresan en su viaje, los dos solitarios supervivientes comienzan poco a poco a confiar el uno en el otro, forjando un vínculo entre ellos que, en tierra hostil, supone la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte.
National Book Award Finalist—Fiction
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.
In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has 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. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’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 through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.
Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.
