Book description
In 1863, as the War Between the States creeps slowly yet inevitably toward its bloody conclusion, former Kentucky slave Britt Johnson ventures west into unknown territory with his wife, Mary, and their three children. Settling on the Texas plains, the Johnson family hopes to build on the dreams that carried…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Color of Lightning as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I'm fascinated, horrified, and entranced by stories of the American Old West, and nobody tells these stories better than Paulette Jiles.
The Color of Lightning is based on the life of a real man, Britt Johnson, a Black cowboy who went to extraordinary lengths to rescue his wife and child from Comanche raiders shortly after the Civil War. A secondary plotline follows a Quaker Agent trying to prevent the massacre of Plains Indians by the U.S. Government.
The story is heartbreaking, inspirational, and in so many ways, unexpected. Jiles is a master storyteller and all of her books are excellent,…
From Anna's list on mysteries that are so dark and real that reading them is both torture and joy.
If you love The Color of Lightning...
The Raffle Baby
In The Raffle Baby, Ruth Talbot spins a luminous tale of three Depression-era orphans—Teeny, Sonny Boy, and Vic—riding the rails, chasing harvests, and stealing when they must.
Survival is their only destination, yet Teeny’s fantastical stories, told by firelight in hobo jungles and migrant camps, keep hope alive—including the…
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