Comments (13)

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Nov 14, 2022Lotushead rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I love this book.
Apr 14, 2021Strellov rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I have read and reread this novel 3 times. It is a masterpiece and since it is based on real events, it’s violence is not gratuitous. Paulette Jiles makes her characters and the Texas landscape worth caring about and go back to even as…
Mar 15, 2019feralranger rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A novel of the old west, based on a true story of Britt Johnson, a freed slave whose wife and family were stolen by Indians but eventually recovered. This story is captivating but brutal so fair warning.
Feb 22, 2019Dub rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
A story worth telling and in Paulette Jiles hands, a pleasure to read. The Color of Lightning is highly recommended.
Oct 21, 2018wyenotgo rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This book is greatly enriched by the depth and complexity of Paulette Jiles' cultural and historical research that wonderfully illuminated her sequel "News of the World". Here we are swept into the turbulent world of 1860's north Texas and…
Aug 27, 2018wmtlady rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
As a rule, I love historical fiction. (This book may be closer to biography since the author did a monumental amount of research for it and it reads a lot like a report.) and its title is beautiful, poetic. I was drawn to it by its…
Aug 05, 2018libraryjerri rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I loved Enemy Women and this is another great piece of historical fiction based on fact. It is Texas and Kansas history with Indians and settlers and the violence of every day life during that period. It seems to tell the story from many…
Nov 14, 2017nellybells rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Was going to comment and then read Hecto's review from a few months back. I second his/her review. Jiles is a wonderful writer and I needed to skip some paragraphs and even whole pages b/c I didn't want to read descriptions of atrocities
Jul 31, 2017CaptainHecto rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This is the prequel to 'News of the World', and it displays the same outstanding qualities of the latter book: the author's exceptional ability to describe the natural world and the material culture of both Indian peoples and white…
Jun 22, 2017anndubois1 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Well written story based on actual references to events in the life of Britt Johnson, a freed slave who brought his wife and 3 children to Elm Creek, Texas in 1863. This is the story of the ongoing battle between the settlers who pushed…
Dec 06, 2016miaone rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
It's probably worth more stars but I can't read something that I think is going to have murder and mayhem in it. It started off beautifully, but the dark clouds started forming and I was out. Yeah, wimpish, but nowadays I want to read…
Nov 26, 2016EmilyEm rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Jiles fictional account of real-life Britt Johnson’s efforts at restitution of family and neighbors kidnapped by raiding Cheyenne and Kiowa in post-Civil War Texas is fascinating. I liked that her characters were realistic and not…
Jul 23, 2013KSerá rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Hauntingly beautiful and suspenseful.