News of the World

Narrator Grover Gardner's charming voice lends the perfect touch to Captain Jefferson Kidd, a lonely widower in 1870 Texas. Gardner smoothly portrays Kidd's sophistication as he eloquently reads the news to settlers for ten cents a listener. Braver than he should be in his sunset years, Kidd agrees to single-handedly escort an orphan girl across 400 miles of dangerous Indian territory. Gardner tenderly portrays the 10-year-old's resentment and gradual trust as she is torn from the Kiowa tribe who kidnapped her and slowly rediscovers her original culture and the German and English languages she once spoke. Gardner's unpretentious narration does justice to Jiles's often exquisite turns of phrase and graceful depictions of the ethnically diverse American West. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

August 22, 2016
Jiles delivers a taut, evocative story of post–Civil War Texas in this riveting drama of a redeemed captive of the Kiowa tribe. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an elderly widower, earns his living traveling around, reading news stories to gatherings of townspeople. While reading in Wichita Falls one evening in the winter of 1870, he sees an old acquaintance. Britt Johnson, the main character in Jiles’s The Color of Lightning, has just come through Indian Country with his crew. The men are returning a 10-year-old girl to her aunt and uncle in Castroville after she spent four years with the Kiowa. A free black man, Britt is reluctant to have a white child in his custody. He persuades the Captain to escort young Johanna on the remainder of the three-week journey. The Captain, who has grown daughters of his own, at first feels sorry for the girl. Johanna considers herself Kiowa; she chafes at wearing shoes and a dress, struggles to pronounce American words. Challenges and dangers confront the two during their journey, and they become attached. Jiles unfolds the stories of the Captain and Johanna, past and present, with the smooth assuredness of a burnished fireside tale, demonstrating that she is a master of the western. Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill.

Starred review from January 30, 2017
Reader Gardner proves yet again that he is one of the best voice actors in the audiobook industry today with his reading of Jiles’s evocative story of post–Civil War Texas. His deep, warm voice is such a perfect match for the character of the elderly widowed Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd that listeners immediately fall under his spell. Gardner’s rich vocal tones and his faultless timing of Jiles’s prose rhythms draw listeners quickly and deeply into the premise of the story and the lives of its characters. In 1870, the captain is called upon to escort 10-year-old Joanna—rescued from the Kiowa tribe that abducted and raised her—to distant relatives in northern Texas. As they travel in his rickety wagon on their 400-mile journey they share dangerous adventures and form a bond that leaves them with difficult decisions when they finally reach their destination. A Morrow hardcover.