The Homesman

September 1, 1988
The frontier of the Old West has rarely been evoked as a more miserable, barren land than it is in this melancholy novel by the author of The Shootist. After venturing west of the Missouri to stake claims in uncharted territory, a number of settlers find the earth fallow and the desolate, lonely winters unbearable. When four of the wives go mad, the local minister entrusts a prim, strong-willed young schoolmarm, Mary Bee Cuddy, to transport them back to Iowa by covered wagon. With her, virtually against his will, is Briggs, a dishonest, foul-mouthed land-grabber (he steals other peoples' claims) whom Mary Bee saved from a lynching in exchange for his help. Utilizing a classic western plota journey across rough land under perilous conditionsand a mismatched pair of protagonists who'll remind many readers of those in The African Queen , the author tells a sturdy if by now familiar tale. Unfortunately, once the novel goes wrong, which it does with a bizarre, alienating plot twist about three-quarters of the way through, it never recovers.

Candace Thaxton's firm, unemotional voice reflects the hardships that broke the hearts and minds of the women who were the unsung heroines of America's western expansion. THE HOMESMAN paints a bleak picture of pioneer life on the Nebraska prairie in the early 1850s. Four wives have come through a harsh winter in a pitiful state. With none of their husbands willing to serve as homesman, that is, to escort the wives back east to their families, Mary Bee Cuddy, spinster homesteader, steps forward and, with the help of an unsavory claim jumper, begins the perilous journey. Thaxton's delivery is as persistent and unbending as the land and its hardships. Not for the fainthearted, this story will leave listeners with even greater respect for the women who settled the West. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine