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News of the World

A Novel

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News of the World

By: Paulette Jiles
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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About this listen

National Book Award Finalist—Fiction

It is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings 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, forging 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. Exquisitely rendered and morally complex, News of the World is a brilliant work of historical fiction that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

©2016, 2017, 2019 Paulette Jiles (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War

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Enchanting

I first came to the novel via the movie of the same name. A beautifully rendered story that enabled an understanding of the psyche of the Southern people and the impact of the Civil War. Its depiction of Native American peoples and the pathos of their disenfranchisement is heart wrenching. The story of the Captives and the influence on their lives is fascinating. The world would be a my evolved and humane place if native cultures were made inclusive into the new worlds. Such a rich peoples. Masterful characterisation. A truly spectacular tale. I lost many hours sleep as I couldn’t stop listening to this audio book.

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