This Savage Race by Douglas C. Jones

From the Publisher

In 1808 Boone Fawley hit upon the idea that there was more to life than St. Louis, Missouri. Spurred on by tales of land ownership on a frontier flowing with milk and honey, he lit out for the territories. Not west into the Plains or the Rocky Mountains, like most men of his time, but south, into the hardwood jungles of Arkansas. Boone set out for adventure, prosperity, and a new life, accompanied by his sons, John and Questor (who - he hated to admit - both had more smarts than he did); Molly, his all-too-handy-with-a-rifle wife; and Chorine, his temperamental old-maid sister (already approaching the ripe age of twenty-seven). Had he known what lay ahead of him, he probably would have stayed put. As master storyteller Douglas C. Jones depicts the Fawley family's trek from St. Louis to Point of Rocks, Arkansas, and finally into the untamed wilderness of the Ozarks, he rekindles the pioneer spirit that led men and women into the very heart of a new continent. Although their names aren't etched on brass plaques or buried in time capsules, pray-we-don't-get-cholera common people like the Fawleys played an integral and memorable part in the settling of America. They were right there with all the frontier heroes - rifles at their sides, fearing for their lives.

Publishers Weekly

Enhancing his reputation as a superb raconteur, Jones ( The Search for Temperance Moon ), three-time winner of the Golden Spur Award for best western historical novel, tells a gritty, rollicking adventure story about one family's trek from St. Louis, Mo., to the untamed, hardscrabble Ozark Mountains. Without compromising his taut pacing and muscular prose, he also presents a marvelously dark comic vision of life in the Old West. The year is 1808, and the hero is Boone Fawley (his father, Noah, an escaped indentured servant, followed Daniel Boone for a while through the Kentucky wilderness). Boone has decided it's time to strike out on his own. Rather than follow the established westward trail to the Great Plains, however, Boone decides to head south to Arkansas, through dense forest and nearly impassable hill country. Hapless Boone is aided by his bright, equally stubborn Methodist wife, Molly; their children, John and Questor; and Chorine, Boone's sullen old-maid sister. Chorine, in turn, is followed by Clovis Reed, the gruff Scotch-Irish trader who's lost his heart to the plain spinster. Feuding traders, angry Indian tribes, and drastically difficult living conditions challenge them every step of the way. With this story of a common man's blundering quest for survival, Jones again (in his 15th novel) achieves the nearly impossible: he recreates the American West in a manner so fresh and compelling as to banish every Hollywood cliche. (June)

Library Journal

In 1808, Boone Fawley takes his family out of the relatively civilized city of St. Louis and enters the territory that will soon be called the Louisiana Purchase. They make a hard living near the Mississippi, mostly at the mercy of the Osage and Cherokee or the equally dangerous fur traders. Boone's son Questor exemplifies the agricultural virtues, but son John becomes a hardened wilderness man. After the disastrous earthquake of 1811, they move to Arkansas, where they find that the rudimentary civilization there is even more treacherous than the wilderness--but they are equal to it. Jones ( The Search for Temperance Moon , LJ 5/1/91; Elkhorn Tavern , Tor, 1989) recently received the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement in Western American Literature. His latest novel is recommended for its historical accuracy and its deft touch with exposition and language. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/93.-- Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.

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