Skip to content

The Homesman

The Homesman Paperback - 2014

by Swarthout, Glendon

  • Used
  • Good
  • Paperback

Description

Simon & Schuster, 2014. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
Used - Good
NZ$10.57
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 4 to 8 days
More Shipping Options
Ships from ThriftBooks (Washington, United States)

About ThriftBooks Washington, United States

Biblio member since 2018
Seller rating: This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.

From the largest selection of used titles, we put quality, affordable books into the hands of readers

Terms of Sale: 30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

Browse books from ThriftBooks

Details

  • Title The Homesman
  • Author Swarthout, Glendon
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Revised
  • Condition Used - Good
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Simon & Schuster, New York
  • Date 2014
  • Features Price on Product - Canadian
  • Bookseller's Inventory # G1476754268I3N00
  • ISBN 9781476754260 / 1476754268
  • Weight 0.45 lbs (0.20 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 in (21.08 x 13.97 x 1.78 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Western U.S.
    • Topical: Country/Cowboy
  • Library of Congress subjects Pioneers, Western fiction
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2014378714
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Summary

Soon to be a major film directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones and co-starring Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, and John Lithgow, this classic Western novel captures the devastating realities of early frontier life through the eyes of one extraordinary woman.

The Homesman opens in the 1850s, when early pioneers are doing anything they can to survive dreadful conditions. Women especially struggle with broken hearts and minds as they face bitter hardships: One nineteen-year-old mother loses her three children to diphtheria in three days; another woman left alone for two nights is forced to shoot wolves to protect herself.

The situation calls for a âÈêhomesmanâÈëâÈ'a person charged with taking these women, driven mad by the conditions of rural life, to asylums in the East. Not exactly a job people are lining up for, it falls to Mary Bee Cuddy, an ex-teacher and spinster, who is indomitable, resourceful, and âÈêplain as an old tin pail.âÈë Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she canâÈçt make it alone, so she takes along her only available companion: the lowlife and untrustworthy George Briggs.

Mary Bee and George know it wonâÈçt be easy, but their endurance is truly tested as they fight the tide of colonization, Indian attacks, ice storms, loneliness, and the unceasing aggravation of a disparate group of mad women. This is the tale of their journey and a tribute to the men and women who homesteaded the frontier, whether they survived or not.

Winner of both the Spur Award and the Wrangler (Best Western Novel) Award in 1988, The Homesman is fiction of the highest rank. Glendon Swarthout has created a magnificent tale and a portrait of a frontier woman who is as moving and believable as she is unforgettable.

From the publisher

Soon to be a major film directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones and co-starring Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, and John Lithgow, this classic Western novel captures the devastating realities of early frontier life through the eyes of one extraordinary woman.IN PIONEER NEBRASKA, A WOMAN LEADS WHERE NO MAN WILL GO Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Tommy Lee Jones, The Homesman is a devastating story of early pioneers in 1850s American West. It celebrates the ones we hear nothing of: the brave women whose hearts and minds were broken by a life of bitter hardship. A "homesman" must be found to escort a handful of them back East to a sanitarium. When none of the county's men steps up, the job falls to Mary Bee Cuddy--ex-teacher, spinster, indomitable and resourceful. Brave as she is, Mary Bee knows she cannot succeed alone. The only companion she can find is the low-life claim jumper George Briggs. Thus begins a trek east, against the tide of colonization, against hardship, Indian attacks, ice storms, and loneliness--a timeless classic told in a series of tough, fast-paced adventures. In an unprecedented sweep, Glendon Swarthout's novel won both the Western Writers of America's Spur Award and the Western Heritage Wrangler Award. A new afterword by the author's son Miles Swarthout tells of his parents Glendon and Kathryn's discovery of and research into the lives of the oft-forgotten frontier women who make The Homesman as moving and believable as it is unforgettable.

Categories

Media reviews

"A finely crafted novel... told with smooth economy... re-creates a seamless and sccurate territorial Nebraska... with character so real the reader resents it when one dies."