
Four women in the isolated frontier territory go mad, and it is up to the unlikely combination of homesteader Mary Bee Cuddy and ne'er-do-well Briggs to escort them east to safety.
Publisher:
Waterville, Maine : Wheeler Publishing, 2014, |©1988.
Edition:
Large print edition.
ISBN:
9781410473523
Characteristics:
393 pages (large print) ;,22 cm
large print., rda


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ApollosRaven
Nov 13, 2014
"Four. What a shame. We'll have to have a homesman."
"What's that?"
He put down his cutlery. "That's what I call him." Last year, Dowd said, there were three demented women, wives, on his circuit, and by spring something had to be done with them. Two were actually dangerous, homicidal, and the other one kept running away. "Well, I got the three husbands together - they're responsible after all -- and had them draw lots. The one who lost was the homesman."

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Add a CommentWhen I watched the movie, I wanted to learn more about why the women went crazy. I don't think the movie explained it well enough. I picked up the book and found out. There are some dark stories in here. Great book on the realities of pioneer life. Not a romance book.
The book is a brutal telling about the hardships of frontier life and having seen the film first I see how Tommy Lee Jones was inspired to turn this into a movie. The film mirrors the book faithfully.
This was a fun, easy read that explored the realities of those that didn't necessarily make it in the new frontier. Rustic in it's telling but worth the read. Way, way better than the movie.
Brilliant! An exceptional book. It tells the story of four women who have had mental breakdowns in the western frontier. One lost three children in two days for example. A harsh unforgiving environment. Another woman much to the shock of the community volunteers to take the four women back to civilization and their family. On the awful journey across the frontier she meets and hires an outlaw to help her with devastating consequences.
Enjoyed strong female character, good historical detail about settling the west. Agree with others about bizarre plot turn 3/4 in. Appreciate being born here and now not then and there.
I found this book a little strange. I didn't like the ending.....that's happening a lot to me lately, so maybe it's just me?
A story of hardship told with compassion and some humor. Very moving.
I loved this book and don't normally read Westerns..excellent !
A good story, some unexpected events, and a conclusive end. It's worth reading if only to remind us how lucky we are to live in this country in this day.