The Big Lonely - Softcover

Brown, Sam

4.08

12 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671865471 ISBN 13: 9780671865474

Publisher: Pocket, 2002

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An honest cowboy looking to make an honest wage: that was Coy Bell. But when he hired on with Walter Davis at his ranch outside Decatur, Texas, Coy got more than he bargained for. He never meant to fall in love with the boss's wife, but when Laurel May returned his affection, Coy knew he had to leave Decatur. For a man like Coy Bell, the choice between temptation and honor is no choice at all.

Now, after years of drifting from ranch to ranch, Coy's memory of Laurel May remains as haunting as ever. Searching for her, Coy is unjustly accused of a despicable crime, making him one of the most wanted and hated men in the history of the West. But his only crime is loving a good woman. Coy Bell will follow the trail of bitterness and pain wherever it leads...into Laurel May's arms or to the end of a hangman's rope.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Brown ( The Crime of Coy Bell ) once again makes good use of his extensive experience as a working cowboy in this elegiac novel of the late-19th-century American West. Casey Wills, the narrator, and Josh Smith are two hardworking cowboys at the XIT ranch in Texas. Smith, it seems, has spent his youth and his health looking at the south end of northbound dogies, while Casey doesn't know if his parents are alive or dead. The plot revolves around the pair's wranglings with rustlers, but takes second place to Brown's affectionate depiction of a ranch hand's life. Casey and Josh battle the elements, sickness, boredom and, as the title implies, loneliness. For relief, they drink, banter with their buddies and hope for the comforts of some dance-hall girl (Casey, for example, longs to be in the arms of a certain gal in Tascosa, one of Texas's wildest cow towns). Although Casey's voice occasionally rings false, with too modern a sensibility or too much zeal in supplying period information, Brown renders his world with realistic detail and lots of spirit.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

This Western by a poet and former cowboy is a real treat for readers who enjoy words and people. The narrator, Casey Wills, a trusted cowpuncher on the huge XIT Ranch, is offered a bribe by Tatum Stagg to turn a blind eye to Stagg's cattle theft. Casey, a man of integrity who does his job come hell or high water, refuses. The resulting hell and high water make up most of the story's action. Of equal interest is the portrayal of a cowboy's life--the drifting from job to job, without roots or security; the hard work; the low pay (lost on one night in town); and, when one is old and stove up, the inevitable ending as a swamper. Yet there is also the freedom, the wide open spaces, the much-loved work with cattle and horses, so that the cowboy--lord of all he surveys, including The Big Lonely--finally lets the chips fall where they may. Very good reading, even re-reading.
- Sister Avila, Acad. of the Holy Angels, Minneapolis
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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