The Homesman Film Tie-In - Softcover

Swarthout, Glendon

3.88

4,007 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1471136043 ISBN 13: 9781471136047

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd., 2014

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The Homesman is a devastating, humane story of early pioneers to America's West in the 1850's. It celebrates the ones we hear nothing of-the brave women whose hearts and minds were broken by that life of bitter hardship. When a nineteen-year-old mother loses her three children to diphtheria in three days, or a woman left alone for two nights has to shoot wolves as they crash through the window, it is no wonder they should lose their minds. After a dreadful winter, the Rev. Dowd finds there are four such cases in his parish and, as yet, no asylum in this frontier town. A 'homesman' must be found to escort the women East to civilization. Not a job anyone would volunteer for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, ex-teacher, spinster-indomitable, resourceful, "plain as an old tin pail." Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she cannot succeed alone, and the only companion available is the low-life and untrustworthy "George Briggs," a claim-jumper.Thus begins a trek East, against the tide of colonization, against hardship, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women, which provides a series of tough, fast-paced adventures and introduces two wonderful, idiosyncratic characters. Coming to cinemas in 2014 with an incredible cast - featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank and John Lithgow. Not to be missed!

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About the Author:

Glendon Swarthout wrote sixteen novels, many of which were bestsellers and were made into films, among them Seventh Cavalry, They Came to Cordura, Where the Boys Are, Bless the Beasts & Children, and A Christmas to Remember. He was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and won a number of other awards, including the Western Writers Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Review:

"I tell friends what The Homesman is about and their eyes open wide and they can't wait to read it. And that's just the plot. Swarthout puts you there, in time and place. I love the way he writes." (Elmore Leonard)

"Totally involving from its very first words... a dangerous journey into the soul, an exploration of the relationships of men and women to each other, to their environments and—ultimately most devastatingly—to themselves." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

"One of Swarthout'sb best... An absorbing epic of endurance." (Kirkus)

"No reader should even attempt to guess what happens. Surprise piles upon surprise... Glendon Swarthout has honed writing excellence to a nearly unsurpassable level... A powerful novel... A classic of vivid realism and gripping storytelling." (Associated Press)

"A finely crafted novel... told with smooth economy... re-creates a seamless and sccurate territorial Nebraska... with character so real the reader resents it when one dies." (Kansas City Star)

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