First published 2020
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd makes his living reading newspapers aloud to frontier audiences across northern Texas in 1870. The elderly widower has survived three wars and prefers his wandering life alone. In Wichita Falls, someone offers him fifty dollars in gold to transport a ten-year-old girl to San Antonio. Johanna was captured by Kiowa raiders four years ago after they killed her family. The army recently took her back, but she speaks no English, refuses shoes, and tries to escape constantly. She remembers nothing of white civilization. Kidd and Johanna face four hundred miles of hostile territory together. Slowly, the old soldier and the displaced child begin to trust each other. Their bond becomes essential for survival. When they reach San Antonio, Johanna's aunt and uncle treat her like a burden. They see her as damaged goods, not family. Captain Kidd faces an impossible decision. He can abandon Johanna to relatives who don't want her, or take her away and become a criminal. The choice will define what family truly means.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Northern Texas, San Antonio, Wichita Falls
Period: 1870
240 pages · Paperback · William Morrow Paperbacks