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News of the World: A Novel
Scritto da Paulette Jiles
Narrato da Grover Gardner
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareDescrizione
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture
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.
Cover Image © 2020 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
News of the World: A Novel
Scritto da Paulette Jiles
Narrato da Grover Gardner
Descrizione
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture
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.
Cover Image © 2020 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
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I absolutely loved this book...I listened to it in one day! It’s a beautiful love story and even though it takes place in the 1800’s...to me it’s messages are very relevant today. Kindness, loyalty, compassion & morality shine through. The bond between the most unlikely pair (a young traumatized girl and a lonely, honourable aging wandering man) will warm the heart of all who are lucky enough to find this book. Brilliant writing and narration. I also enjoyed the freedom, trials and adventures they faced...I couldn’t stop listening! We all have many decisions to make along our life path...and we are reminded of the best way to be towards others and of what is truly important. I can’t wait to read more books by this author.
great boook and now all i gotta do is watch the movie
Good audio book due to the amount of conversations and the dialects spoken. I was struggling with the written work, so happy I found on audio.
Marvelous, full of adventure, frontier history, immigrant experience, recovered captive-child experience, and compassion.
A beautiful story....one of the best I’ve read. Can’t wait to see the movie, yet I fear I’ll be somehow disappointed. I can’t imagine how they’ll be able to truly depict the richness of the written words and the story that Paulette Jiles has painted for me to imagine. It’s a must read!
Beautifully written, wonderfully narrated. Great sense of time and place. Plenty to think about!
Captivating story. You can’t help but love the Captain and Johanna.
GREAT story! (I might not have thought it was so good if it didn't end the way I hoped)
TWO great main characters and lots of fun, interesting supporting characters and a favorite setting to boot!!
TWO great main characters and lots of fun, interesting supporting characters and a favorite setting to boot!!
This book took me a while to get into. Then, it went on sale on Audible for $1.95, so I tried listening rather than reading and it was perfect. (It is a book club book, otherwise, I might not have tried the Audible version). The Narrator made the book. His voice was just like it should have been for the main character. This is the story of a man in his 70s who goes around reading the news of the world to different cities. Many people can't read, so this is a great service. They pay him $0.10 to hear the news. But, he ends up being asked to return a child to her family. She had been taken captive four years earlier. He agrees to do it and it turns out to be more than he expected, in more ways than one. Hearing about the politics of the world at the time was not my cup of tea, but reading about their relationship, how he figured out how to talk to this young girl, and earn her trust, that was amazing. I'm glad it stuck with this story to the end!
Entrancing. > Captain Kidd traveled from town to town in North Texas with his newspapers and read aloud the news of the day to assemblies like this in halls or churches for a dime a head. He traveled alone and had no one to collect the dimes for him but not many people cheated and if they did somebody caught them at it and grabbed them by the lapels and wrenched them up in a knot and said, You really ought to pay your goddamn dime, you know, like everybody else.
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, mid-70’s, had found a solitary place for himself in the post-civil war era by traveling the Texas Oklahoma territory reading newspaper articles out loud to a population hungry for news.But then an Indian agent and old friend asked him to return ten year old Johanna to her only remaining relatives. Johanna’s parents and sister were massacred by the Kiowa when Johanna was six and Johanna was kidnapped. In the intervening years she grew to think of herself as Kiowa and lost her knowledge of English, German and all her ‘civilized’ ways.Unlike others who are put off by Indian ways, Captain Kidd treated her with respect. The two not only came to understand one another, but to rely on each other in the toughest situations.Unfortunately, when delivered to her rigid German aunt and uncle, she was seen as a burdensome wild child who needed to be sternly disciplined to being civilized.Uplifting, sweetly satisfying, but not cloying.
News of the World portrays the wild and unsettled land of America after the Civil War. Captain Jefferson Kidd agrees to transport Johanna Leonberger to her relatives in Texas. Captain Kidd, a 71-year-old itinerant reader begins his 400-mile trek with feral Johanna. This unlikely team faces many hazards and hardships and form a friendship. Paulette Jiles creates a realistic story of the wild and difficult journey these two individuals must undergo. What will Johanna face with her uncle and aunt? Why does Captain Kidd treat Johanna with such kindness? What are the thoughts of Johanna during this journey? Ms. Jiles suggests further reading on the plight of returned captives of the Indian tribes and the settling of these captives to a new, tamer life. An interesting story about an uncertain time in America’s history.
"Captain Kidd read carefully and precisely. His eyeglasses were round and rimmed in gold over his deep eyes. He always laid his small gold hunting watch to one side of the podium to time his reading. He had the appearance of wisdom and age and authority, which was why his readings were popular and the reason the dimes rang into the coffee can. When they read his handbills men abandoned the saloon, they slipped out of various unnamed establishments, they ran through the rain from their fire lit homes, they left the cattle circled and bedded beside the flooding Red to come and hear the news of the distant world." (Page 60)Witchita Falls, Texas 1870. Captain Jefferson Kidd travels through northern Texas reading the news of the world. He pores over far and distant newspapers selecting the stories he thinks will be of most interest to his varied and sundried listeners. He is approached by two free black men who offer him the documents and a fifty dollar fee if he will return a young orphan to her family in San Antonio, a long long ride away. She was taken captive by the Kiowa four years earlier.The narrative follows the two of them on their long and arduous trip across Texas. The captain is the kindest, most caring man that ten year old Johanna could have hoped for. He has the patience and the attitude that provides a perfect guardian for her. Together they fight off gunslingers and other dangerous characters and create a bond that you know is seriously bonding them. He has his doubts about leaving her with relatives who are total strangers and may not be prepared to bring her along in the proper way.This book really resonated with me. Beautiful prose carried me along through a totally new learning experience. I'd never heard of men traveling through the west, reading news stories for pay. Of course, it makes perfect sense and it's just another example of how much we can all learn from the reading of fiction. Wonderful story, wonderful complicated characters, unique setting at a time when Texas was still very wild and unsettled. Almost perfect. Very highly recommended.
Book on CD performed by Grover Gardner4**** Captain Jefferson Kidd is a 70-year-old widower who travels the small towns of Post-Civil-War Texas, reading the news to a paying audience hungry for information from foreign lands. In Wichita Falls, he’s approached by a man who has helped rescue a young girl – Johanna Leonberger – from the Kiowa tribe that has held her captive for some years. Kidd is asked to take Johanna with him, and return her to her relatives in the San Antonio area. Reluctantly, he agrees, though he knows the 400-mile journey will be fraught with peril. Oh, I loved this tale, and the way Jiles portrayed these two central characters. Kidd is a principled man, a veteran of war, who may be elderly but still has his wits about him. Johanna is a wild child, who has forgotten English (and German), and speaks in the tonal language of her adopted tribe. She refuses to wear shoes, keeps trying to run away, is fearful and obstinate. But as they travel through this wild country, they come to trust one another. Kidd teaches her some English, and she carefully calls him “Kep-Dun” and comes to understand – and believe – him when he assures her that things are “all right.” The decisions they must make are sometimes heart-breaking. The ways they support one another when facing various dangers and come to simply enjoy one another when things are going smoothly, paint a picture of love. There are some scenes that are quite comical, many that are tender, and quite a few that had me on the edge of my seat. I particularly enjoyed the landscape of their journey. I’ve traveled many of these areas in my many trips to/from Texas to visit family. Oh, how I long to see the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush that color the hills come spring each year! This is the second book by Jiles that I’ve read, and I think I need to read more.Grover Gardner did a marvelous job performing the audio. His somewhat gravelly voice was perfect for Captain Kidd, and he did a passable job of voicing Johanna as well.
What a wonderful book. It does take a little to get used to the rhythm of the writing but once you do you find yourself in the world of Captain Kidd as he tries to adapt to life after the Civil War. He is now in Texas and he wants his family there with him but he doesn’t have the money to move them yet. He takes whatever work he can including traveling about reading the news to people in small towns – can you imagine that there was once a need for this?In one town he is offered the rather large sum of $50 (in gold!) to take a young girl to her last remaining relatives. Her family was killed in an Indian raid and she has been living with the tribe since she was 6 years old – she is now ten and remembers no other life. She does not remember English or the German of her family. She considers herself Kiowa. She does not want to leave the people she considers her tribe.As they embark on the trip they come to a relationship of sorts – trust does not come easy – but it’s just the two of them and it’s not easy country. Both have seen things they’d rather forget and never see again. As they spend time together they come to depend on each other but Captain Kidd knows his duty, does his duty. But sometimes duty is not right.This is a special book. It’s one that requires more than one reading and I really wish I could just start it over again. It’s not necessarily an easy read but it will stay with you. The characters are unique and the plot while at its heart conventional, is one that will still give a surprise if you think about it. A tale of relationships, of love and of when right is sometimes wrong.
The premise of the book is good: A news reader is paid to take a young girl back to her family, years after being kidnapped by the Kiowa Indians. However, the writing is elementary, there are no quotation marks used for dialogue, and the entire book is predictable. It's only saving grace: it's short!
Well, the ending made me cry. It is such a good story. I highly recommend it.
Maybe Westerns are becoming a thing with me? First Patrick DeWitt’s The Sisters Brothers, then Glendon Swarthout’s The Homesman, and now this.I fell in love with these two characters and thought the development of their relationship was realistic and pitch-perfect.
A sweet story about a man, Captain Kidd, who travels across a post-civil war Texas to deliver a little girl, Johanna, who was taken by the Kiowa tribe when she was 6 and is being returned to her aunt and uncle 4 years later. Johanna does not remember much about her past life and identifies as a Kiowan, Captain tries to teach her, but also lets her be herself while they travel and face many obstacles that bonds them together. The writing is pretty direct, everything written is related to the story, which felt weird at first because the story begins immediately without knowing the characters well. Captain's background is explored here and there throughout the novel, would of liked to have that for Johanna as well, like when she lived with the Kiowas.
This book was a joy to read. The characters are wonderful and the writing is first rate. I loved it.
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, former printer, is, in 1870, an old man, in his seventies. Having lost his business in the economic collapse of the Confederate states after the war, he's making his living as an itinerant news reader. Kidd travels the state of Texas, going from small town to small town, reading selections of national and international news to listeners who pay ten cents a person to listen. It's a form of entertainment as well as a way to get the news.
After one of these readings, he's asked to take a young girl, captured and raised by Kiowa Indians, back to her relatives The problem is that the girl, now ten years old, was six when her family was murdered and she was taken, and she seemingly remembers nothing of her life before that trauma.
As they travel across Texas, we get to know Captain Kidd, and see some of the disruption and disorder of Texas during Reconstruction. We also get a look at what was a very real and present problem in America when there was still frontier: Children and young adults captured by Indian tribes and adopted by them often didn't want to be rescued and were permanently changed by their experiences. Kidd's problem isn't just to transport a young girl several weeks' travel through territory that is not always safe. He also has to reintroduce her to the English language and very different clothing and customs, while ensuring she doesn't run away attempting to rejoin the Kiowa.
It's an education for her; it's also an education for him.
The character building here is beautiful. The good, the bad, and those just trying to survive are all convincingly real people, facing challenges often glossed over in the history books as they concentrate on larger events. Captain Kidd and his friends and acquaintances are well worth spending some time with.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
After one of these readings, he's asked to take a young girl, captured and raised by Kiowa Indians, back to her relatives The problem is that the girl, now ten years old, was six when her family was murdered and she was taken, and she seemingly remembers nothing of her life before that trauma.
As they travel across Texas, we get to know Captain Kidd, and see some of the disruption and disorder of Texas during Reconstruction. We also get a look at what was a very real and present problem in America when there was still frontier: Children and young adults captured by Indian tribes and adopted by them often didn't want to be rescued and were permanently changed by their experiences. Kidd's problem isn't just to transport a young girl several weeks' travel through territory that is not always safe. He also has to reintroduce her to the English language and very different clothing and customs, while ensuring she doesn't run away attempting to rejoin the Kiowa.
It's an education for her; it's also an education for him.
The character building here is beautiful. The good, the bad, and those just trying to survive are all convincingly real people, facing challenges often glossed over in the history books as they concentrate on larger events. Captain Kidd and his friends and acquaintances are well worth spending some time with.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
News of the World is everything that I want in a historical fiction novel. It is a historically accurate story of the beautiful relationship between a Kiowa Indian captive, and the man who is delivering her back to her family. The story offers a lot of insight to the mindset of an Indian captive, and that mindset played a large part in why I was so taken with Captain and Johanna's relationship. Johanna couldn't be in better hands, while at the same time, Captain couldn't either. It can be tough to please this reader when it comes to finding a balance between historical accuracy and the telling of an interesting story. I like facts, but I don't want to be bored to tears reading what feels like school work. Paulette Jiles is a crafty one. While dedicating a decent portion of her book to historical factoids, she does so by weaving the "News of the World" within the story through Captain, who earns his living by traveling about, reading his newspapers to crowds who don't have access to worldly news. Thus sharing the news of the time with me, the reader of News of the World without it being even the slightest bit dry.The theme here, if I had to pick just one, is that sometimes what you need most is not only what you aren't looking for, but also often what you thought you would never want. A wonderful theme!
A simple but emotional historical fiction novel about an old Captain who is tasked with bringing a young German girl back to her family (she had been captured by the Kiowa 4 years before). He has spent the last few years traveling around small towns in Texas reading the news of the day from newspapers all over the world. However, his task is slightly complicated by the half-wild Johanna who is caught between two worlds. The relationship that develops between this unlikely pair is without a doubt the heart of the novel. This was a great book, and I'm inspired to do some more research/reading about captive children.
Sweet, simple tale of a man returning a former Kiowa captive to her family. Gorgeous language.
What an absolutely delightful book and one to treasure. The book information states: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.The language delights, the atmosphere one can almost taste, the danger and threats palpable. I was reminded, to a degree, of McCarthy and Cather reading her - 'Death Comes to the Archbishop'. If I have any criticism I'd have loved the last chapter to be longer but maybe just because I didn't want to let Johanna and Captain Kidd (I 'kid' you not!) go.
News of the World, Paulette JilesCaptain Jefferson Kidd travels around from small town to small town, like Cyrano de Bergerac, reading from newspapers and sharing the news of the world with those who pay a dime for the privilege of listening to him read it. Newspapers were scarce then and not everyone could read. For some it was a social event, and for some it was a time to raise a ruckus. Once, the captain had his own printing press, but the wars during his lifetime had taken their toll. He had lived seven decades, and he missed both his deceased wife and his former newsman’s life. His two daughters lived in Georgia, where the Civil War had also altered their lifestyles. They did not have the money to rejoin him in his home town in Texas, but he hoped they would some day soon.During his travels, he arrived in a town and noticed the same man he had seen at his last couple of readings. He wondered why he had been following him. The man, soon revealed his reason. Britt Johnson*, asked the captain to take a child back to her German relatives. He offered him the $50 gold coin he was given for the task, because he said the child was belligerent and white. He did not think, as a black man, that he could guarantee her safety or his own. The child had been kidnapped at the age of six. She witnessed the death of both her parents and her younger sister who were murdered by the Kiowa. Now, after four years, she had forgotten her past and fully identified with the Indian tribe more than with her own true biological background. The captain agreed to take Johanna home to an aunt and uncle because, although he was old and the journey would be hard, he felt it was the right thing to do. How he managed to get Johanna to her relatives and what he learned about them, was the crux of the novel.As they traveled together, they both learned more about life from each other. Just as the captain tried to help Johanna adjust to the more civilized world, this precocious child showed him how comfortable it was to live in the more savage world of her last four years. She was a survivor and she became a great help to him. She was resourceful, intuitive, precocious and far more mature than her years. Soon, although the child and the captain were burdened with their memories, they learned how to comfort each other and fulfill each other’s need for affection and someone to trust. The story of their travels and relationship was both interesting and exciting to read as the lawlessness and danger of the territories began to surface on each page. The author’s description of the time and place made the reader feel right in the thick of it. How they survived and moved off into the future was simply a good story. However, the writing style was unusual because no quotations were used to delineate speech from pure narrative which sometimes led to confusion. Also, it was difficult to tell which parts of the story were based on real history and which were based on the author’s imagination. *Britt Johnson is the stuff of legends. A hero, Johnson was the slave of Moses Johnson who freed him and gave him money enabling him to rescue his own family from the Indians.
I love the idea of a man traveling from town to town to read the news of the world to isolated Americans after the Civil War. Captain Kidd is just that man and is known throughout northern Texas. When the Kiowas return a young girl from captivity, the Captain is hired to return her to her family near San Antonio. The characters and adventures are fascinating. For people who have problems with the author's non-use of quotations, I strongly suggest they listen to an audio version. It is worth listening a second time. One of my favorite books.
10 year old captured girl is being returned to former family by an ex-captain in the 1800's. There is a feeling of the "Old West" to this novel. The dialogue is missing quotation marks, which was distracting at first, but at some point I stopped noticing as the book unfolded. This is a short novel and while it was good and enjoyable, it is not one I would highly recommend.
I couldn't get past the way the dialogue was punctuated without quotation marks. Sloppy.
I remember back in 7th grade Texas History class, doing a research paper on Cynthia Parker and being enthralled with her story. She had been kidnapped and eventually adopted by Comanche, and lived with them nearly 25 years. She was then recaptured and returned to her white relatives, though she never really re-integrated back into western society. She was the mother of Quanah Parker, who would grow up to become the last Comanche chief. But I digress. Anyway, I was enthralled with her story and how kidnapped children could take up with their captors’ culture so they would not want to return.
I’ve been interested in several of Janette Jiles’ books, but her ploy of not using quotation marks I found quite pretentious. However, seeing 3 or 4 of them get such high ratings and comments from my GoodReads friends, I finally decided despite that quirk I’d jump in and give it a try. This seemed like a good one to start with –the subject matter was one I’ve always found quite interesting, and it’s a relatively short book, so if I found the writing style troublesome, it would be quickly over!
I am pleased to say that this was quite a pleasure to read! I was mesmerized from the first page to the last.
I was surprised how much the political climate in TX at this time mirrored today. Even throwing around accusations about radical newspapers and professional agitators! “It was much better up on the Red River, he decided, where all you really had to deal with was the Comanche, the Kiowa, and sometimes the U.S. Army.”
I still wish the author would use quotation marks like the rest of western literature, but I won’t let it stop me from trying her other books. Having grown up and lived nearly 20 years in Texas, and lived another 15 years in Missouri, it’s nice to have some good historical fiction about parts of the country I know well!
I’ve been interested in several of Janette Jiles’ books, but her ploy of not using quotation marks I found quite pretentious. However, seeing 3 or 4 of them get such high ratings and comments from my GoodReads friends, I finally decided despite that quirk I’d jump in and give it a try. This seemed like a good one to start with –the subject matter was one I’ve always found quite interesting, and it’s a relatively short book, so if I found the writing style troublesome, it would be quickly over!
I am pleased to say that this was quite a pleasure to read! I was mesmerized from the first page to the last.
I was surprised how much the political climate in TX at this time mirrored today. Even throwing around accusations about radical newspapers and professional agitators! “It was much better up on the Red River, he decided, where all you really had to deal with was the Comanche, the Kiowa, and sometimes the U.S. Army.”
I still wish the author would use quotation marks like the rest of western literature, but I won’t let it stop me from trying her other books. Having grown up and lived nearly 20 years in Texas, and lived another 15 years in Missouri, it’s nice to have some good historical fiction about parts of the country I know well!