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In the mid-1950s, America was flush with prosperity and saw an unbroken line of progress clear to the horizon, while the West was still very much wild.
Catherine Lemay is a young archaeologist on her way to Montana, with a huge task before her - a canyon 'as deep as the devil's own appetites.' Working ahead of a major dam project, she has one summer to prove nothing of historical value will be lost in the flood. From the moment she arrives, nothing is familiar - the vastness of the canyon itself mocks the contained, artefact-rich digs in post-Blitz London where she cut her teeth.
And then there's John H, a former mustanger and veteran of the U.S. Army's last mounted cavalry campaign, living a fugitive life in the canyon. John H inspires Catherine to see beauty in the stark landscape, and her heart opens to more than just the vanished past.
Painted Horses sends a dauntless young woman on a heroic quest, sings a love song to the horseman's vanishing way of life, and reminds us that love and ambition, tradition and the future often make strange bedfellows.
About the author
Malcolm Brooks was raised in the rural foothills of the California Sierras and grew up around Gold Rush and Native American artefacts. A carpenter by trade, he has lived in Montana for most of the last two decades. This is his debut novel.
Summary
A brilliant, enthralling debut novel about an extraordinary young woman's quest to tame a wild landscape, the tide of progress in the middle of the "American century", and a beautiful, passionate love story.
Foreword
A brilliant, enthralling debut novel about an extraordinary young woman's quest to tame a wild landscape, the tide of progress in the middle of the "American century", and a beautiful, passionate love story.
Report
As much the story of the evolution of the American West as it is the coming of age of a young woman in the 1950s... So assured and epic in its scope that it's hard to believe this is a debut novel. USA Today
