News of the World by Paulette Jiles

4.6 (5)
$16.99

Product Details

Web ID: 4659070

Now a Major Motion Picture National Book Award Finalist—Fiction. In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers 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".

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- Adult
    • Format- Paperback
    • Product dimensions- 5.5" W x 7.3" H x 0.9" D
    • Genre- Fiction
    • Publisher- HarperCollins Publishers, Publication date- 06-20-2017
    • Page count- 240
    • ISBN- 9780062409218

  • Materials & Care

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Ratings & Reviews

4.6/5

5 star ratings & reviews

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3 years ago
from Hanceville, AL

Beautiful in many ways!

This book is beautiful in so many ways! The cover art is like a watercolor memory. The pages themselves are not all perfectly straight cut on the edges, giving the book a feeling of something from the past. Ms. Jiles' writing definitely shows her poetic side and her descriptions paint the pictures so vividly that you feel as if you were there in the wagon with Captain Kidd and Johanna. I sobbed through the last two chapters! It's almost like taking a dusty memento down from the shelf to brush off and revisit. HIGHLY recommend!

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

3 years ago

absolute perfection in a novel

Jiles at her absolute best. Gripping story, characters that come alive, superior writing of the sort that takes the reader into that world for the duration of the read--and beyond.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

4 years ago
from Southgate, Mi.

Very good

I am keeping this book so I can read it a 2nd time. The book is much better than the movie. The movie did not do it justice. Excellent read.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

5 years ago
from Chicago, Illinois

News of the World Review

Jiles's short novel is about a Texas man who was a former soldier and now rides around reading Texans the news from various newspapers. I'll say that the concept interested me. What a cool idea to go around reading people the news, especially in the 1800s when such things weren't as accessible to those in rural areas. After a reading one night, Britt Johnson asks Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd to help in the transport of an orphan girl taken by Indians back to her aunt and uncle in southern Texas. What ensues is a long journey both in distance and in growth. Readers watch as Kidd develops a relationship with the young Johanna as he teaches her how to act in society, speak English and even defend herself from those who wish her harm. While the storyline is definitely interesting, I felt that the ending was predictable and that this book could've been shorter even. I felt myself losing interest at a lot of points in the novel which is why it was just okay for me. They are making a movie starring Tom Hanks as Captain Kidd, so I'll be interested to see how they adapt it to the big screen.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

5 years ago
from Austin, TX

Very good read

I read this a month or so ago and have been thinking about it off and on since then. It's a fine story about an older man, Captain Jefferson Kidd, who has had his printing business shut down in the aftermath of the Civil War so he makes a living by reading the papers in small Texas towns at a dime a head. He accepts 50 dollars to return a white girl, who has been held by Indians for several years, to her family near San Antonio. She has forgotten her family and nearly everything about her former existence. So she wants to return to her captive family. They have various adventures before she is finally returned to a family that views her as an indentured servant. The Captain is distressed by their attitude and he eventually absconds with her and they resume their nomadic travels. She has become a daughter to him and he has become a father to her. He eventually retires to San Antonio where his own daughters now live. Paulette Jiles has done a lot of research on the and it shows in her writing. This book is going on the shelf to be reread at some point. It's a keeper.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com