Best Selling Books by PAULETTE JILES

In 1863, the War Between the States creeps slowly yet inevitably toward its bloody conclusion—and eastern thoughts are already turning to different wars and enemies. Searching for a life and future, former Kentucky slave Britt Johnson is venturing west into unknown territory with his wife, Mary, and their three children—wary but undeterred by sobering tales of atrocities inflicted upon those who trespass against the Comanche and the Kiowa. Settling on the Texas plains, the Johnson family hopes to build on the dreams that carried them from the Confederate South to this new land of possibility—dreams that are abruptly shattered by a brutal Indian raid upon the settlement while Britt is away establishing a business. Returning to face the unthinkable—his friends and neighbors slain or captured, his eldest son dead, his beloved Mary severely damaged and enslaved, and his remaining children absorbed into an alien society that will never relinquish its hold on them—the heartsick freedman vows not to rest until his family is whole again. Samuel Hammond follows a different road west. A Quaker whose fortune is destroyed by a capricious act of an inscrutable God, he has resigned himself to the role the Deity has chosen for him. As a new agent for the Office of Indian Affairs, it is Hammond''s goal to ferret out corruption and win justice for the noble natives now in his charge. But the proud, stubborn people refuse to cease their raids, free their prisoners, and accept the farming implements and lifestyle the white man would foist upon them, adding fuel to smoldering tensions that threaten to turn a man of peace, faith, and reason onto a course of terrible retribution. A soaring work of the imagination based on oral histories of the post–Civil War years in North Texas, Paulette Jiles''s The Color of Lightning is at once an intimate look into the hearts and hopes of tragically flawed human beings and a courageous reexamination of a dark American history.

Soon to be 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.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.

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." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember -- strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become -- in the eyes of the law -- a kidnapper himself.

The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of News of the World and Enemy Women returns to Texas in this atmospheric story, set at the end of the Civil War, about an itinerant fiddle player, a ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels trying to make a living, and the charming young Irish lass who steals his heart. In March 1865, the long and bitter War between the States is winding down. Till now, twenty-three-year-old Simon Boudlin has evaded military duty thanks to his slight stature, youthful appearance, and utter lack of compunction about bending the truth. But following a barroom brawl in Victoria, Texas, Simon finds himself conscripted, however belatedly, into the Confederate Army. Luckily his talent with a fiddle gets him a comparatively easy position in a regimental band. Weeks later, on the eve of the Confederate surrender, Simon and his bandmates are called to play for officers and their families from both sides of the conflict. There the quick-thinking, audacious fiddler can’t help but notice the lovely Doris Mary Dillon, an indentured girl from Ireland, who is governess to a Union colonel’s daughter. After the surrender, Simon and Doris go their separate ways. He will travel around Texas seeking fame and fortune as a musician. She must accompany the colonel’s family to finish her three years of service. But Simon cannot forget the fair Irish maiden, and vows that someday he will find her again. Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette Jiles’s trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart’s yearning. "Jiles’ sparse but lyrical writing is a joy to read. . . . Lose yourself in this entertaining tale.” — Associated Press

The American debut of the widely admired Canadian writer is a compilation drawn from a wide range of writings in prose and poetry.

By the highly acclaimed author of the novel Enemy Women Winner of the Governor General''s Award for Poetry, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award Now back in print, Paulette Jiles''s celebrated, multi-award-winning poetry collection. These are poems of scorching intensity, which examine the politics of childhood and love; explore the rigours and blessings of living in the far north; mark the way stations of a life of discovery and exploration. The result is a poetry of singular, telling immediacy.

Paulette Jiles, the bestselling author of the highly praised novels The Color of Lightning, Stormy Weather, and Enemy Women, pushes into new territory with Lighthouse Island—a captivating and atmospheric story set in the far future—a literary dystopian tale resonant with love and hope. In the coming centuries the world''s population has exploded. The earth is crowded with cities, animals are nearly all extinct, and drought is so widespread that water is rationed. There are no maps, no borders, no numbered years, and no freedom, except for an elite few. It is a harsh world for an orphan like Nadia Stepan. Growing up, she dreams of a green vacation spot called Lighthouse Island, in a place called the Pacific Northwest. When an opportunity for escape arises, Nadia embarks on a dangerous and sometimes comic adventure. Along the way she meets a man who changes the course of her life: James Orotov, a mapmaker and demolition expert. Together, they evade arrest and head north toward a place of wild beauty that lies beyond the megapolis—Lighthouse Island.

For the Colleys of southeastern Missouri, the War between the States is a plague that threatens devastation, despite the family’s avowed neutrality. For eighteen-year-old Adair Colley, it is a nightmare that tears apart her family and forces her and her sisters to flee. The treachery of a fellow traveler, however, brings about her arrest, and she is caged with the criminal and deranged in a filthy women’s prison. But young Adair finds that love can live even in a place of horror and despair. Her interrogator, a Union major, falls in love with her and vows to return for her when the fighting is over. Before he leaves for battle, he bestows upon her a precious gift: freedom. Now an escaped "enemy woman," Adair must make her harrowing way south buoyed by a promise . . . seeking a home and a family that may be nothing more than a memory.

In 1973 Paulette Jiles arrived in Northern Ontario to run a community radio station for the CBC. Romantic notions of primitive life quickly faded in the harsh setting. The first night, her axe bounced off frozen logs, and she would have frozen without a willing husky pup who shared her bed. She relied on helpful neighbors and quickly became a respected member of the community. The reader is treated to warm, humorous vignettes that convey Jiles''s reverence for native tradition, myth and storytelling and her affection for unforgettable colleagues and companions.

From Paulette Jiles, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Enemy Women, comes a poignant and unforgettable story of hardship, sacrifice, and strength in a tragic time—and of a desperate dream born of an undying faith in the arrival of a better day Oil is king of East Texas during the darkest years of the Great Depression. The Stoddard girls—responsible Mayme, whip-smart tomboy Jeanine, and bookish Bea—know no life but an itinerant one, trailing their father from town to town as he searches for work on the pipelines and derricks; that is, when he''s not spending his meager earnings at gambling joints, race tracks, and dance halls. And in every small town in which the windblown family settles, mother Elizabeth does her level best to make each sparse, temporary house they inhabit a home. But the fall of 1937 ushers in a year of devastating drought and dust storms, and the family''s fortunes sink further than they ever anticipated when a questionable "accident" leaves Elizabeth and her girls alone to confront the cruelest hardships of these hardest of times. With no choice left to them, they return to the abandoned family farm. It is Jeanine, proud and stubborn, who single-mindedly devotes herself to rebuilding the farm and their lives. But hard work and good intentions won''t make ends meet or pay the back taxes they owe on their land. In desperation, the Stoddard women place their last hopes for salvation in a wildcat oil well that eats up what little they have left . . . and on the back of late patriarch Jack''s one true legacy, a dangerous racehorse named Smoky Joe. And Jeanine, the fatherless "daddy''s girl," must decide if she will gamble it all . . . on love.

The Golden Hawks want a clubhouse of their own. But where can they find one in their new housing development on the edge of the city? First they try to make their clubhouse in Joe''s bedroom, but their parents get angry when the kids hammer holes in the wall. Then they scare themselves silly looking for scrap wood in an empty--and spooky--apartment building. Finally they try to make money so they can build a clubhouse. Will the Golden Hawks ever have a place to call their own? First published in 1978, The Golden Hawks is an honest and touching look at life on the edge of a Canadian city. A volume in the Where We Live series.

Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post–Civil War frontier seeking redemption in this fearless novel from the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of News of the World. Union soldier John Chenneville suffered a traumatic head wound in battle. His recovery took the better part of a year as he struggled to regain his senses and mobility. By the time he returned home, the Civil War was over, but tragedy awaited. John’s beloved sister and her family had been brutally murdered. Their killer goes by many names. He fought for the North in the late unpleasantness, and wore a badge in the name of the law. But the man John knows as A. J. Dodd is little more than a rabid animal, slaughtering without reason or remorse, needing to be put down. Traveling through the unforgiving landscape of a shattered nation in the midst of Reconstruction, John braves winter storms and confronts desperate people in pursuit of his quarry. Untethered, single-minded in purpose, he will not be deterred. Not by the U.S. Marshal who threatens to arrest him for murder should he succeed. And not by Victoria Reavis, the telegraphist aiding him in his death-driven quest, yet hoping he’ll choose to embrace a life with her instead. And as he trails Dodd deep into Texas, John accepts that this final reckoning between them may cost him more than all he’s already lost…

Soon to be a Major Motion Picture starring Tom Hanks It is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings 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." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forging a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember--strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become--in the eyes of the law--a kidnapper himself. Exquisitely rendered and morally complex, News of the World is a brilliant work of historical fiction that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

With the spark and zest of a gin fizz, Jiles invites readers along on an unforgettable rail trip as her hatted heroine, a Katharine Hepburn type, is leaving America, escaping to Canada and hoping to find her Spencer Tracy somewhere in the Dome Car between Vancouver and points east.

La novela que inspiró la película protagonizada por Tom Hanks. Concluida la guerra de Secesión, el capitán Jefferson Kyle Kidd se dedica a viajar por el norte de Texas leyendo artículos de prensa a un público ávido por conocer las noticias del mundo. Les habla de presidentes y reinas, de luchas gloriosas, devastadoras catástrofes y apasionantes aventuras que tienen lugar en cualquier rincón del orbe. El capitán Kidd, un viudo entrado en años que ha vivido tres guerras y combatido en dos, disfruta de su solitaria y desarraigada existencia cuando le ofrecen una moneda de oro por devolver a una niña huérfana que había sido capturada por los kiowas a sus parientes en San Antonio. El viaje al sur a través de cuatrocientas millas de inhóspito territorio va a ser difícil y peligroso. Johanna, que ha olvidado incluso su lengua, piensa en escapar apenas se le presente oportunidad y elude comportarse de modo «civilizado». No obstante, a medida que progresan en su travesía, los dos extraños supervivientes comienzan poco a poco a confiar el uno en el otro, forjando un vínculo entre ellos que, en tierra hostil, supone la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte. New York Times Bestseller «Noticias del gran mundo, nominada al National Book Award, ha sido comparada con la novela Valor de ley, de Charles Portis, y la película Centauros del desierto, de John Ford (el viaje de un hombre para «rescatar» a una niña blanca raptada por los indios). Kidd, el protagonista, ama seleccionar y agrupar artículos, oír los ahogados gritos de sorpresa de la gente y constatar el inmenso poder de la comunicación. Durante las horas de lectura de Noticias del gran mundo, ese poder se restaura como por arte de magia.» JANET MASLIN, NEW YORK TIMES «Los seguidores de Jiles y amantes de la novela histórica no deben perderse este western. El desenlace dejará completamente satisfechos a quienes quieran conocer el destino de sus queridos personajes.» WENDY W. PAIGE

Suntem în 1870, Războiul Civil tocmai s-a încheiat, iar căpitanul Jefferson Kyle Kidd străbate nordul Texasului, lecturând ziare pentru un public plătitor, însetat de vești din lumea întreagă. Căpitanul Kidd, un veteran trecut de 60 de ani, care a trăit să vadă trei războaie, luptând în două dintre ele, este mulțumit cu viața lui solitară și dezrădăcinată. În Wichita Falls i se oferă o monedă de aur în valoare de cincizeci de dolari pentru a duce o micuță orfană la rudele ei din San Antonio. Cu patru ani în urmă, indienii Kiowa i-au ucis pe părinții și pe sora Johannei, iar pe ea au cruțat-o și au crescut-o ca pe copiii lor. Luată de curând de armata americană de la noua familie, fetița de zece ani a fost încă o dată smulsă din căminul ei și adusă lângă străini. Călătoria de aproape șase sute cincizeci de kilometri spre sud, printr-o zonă încă plină de tulburări sociale și printr-un mediu înconjurător ostil, se dovedește a fi dificilă și, de multe ori, periculoasă. Johanna a uitat limba engleză, încearcă să fugă ori de câte ori are ocazia, își aruncă încălțările și refuză să se comporte „civilizat”. Dar, cu fiecare kilometru parcurs, cei doi singuratici încep, treptat, să capete încredere unul în celălalt și între ei se creează o legătură care îi va ajuta să supraviețuiască. În acest roman de ficțiune istorică, plin de imagini cinematografice, de mare complexitate morală și construit pe mai multe planuri, autoarea explorează noțiuni fundamentale, precum familia, responsabilitatea, onoarea și încrederea. „O călătorie de mare forță, bogat descrisă... Locul căpitanului Kidd este în marele panteon al personajelor de western, alături de Rooster Cogburn din True Grit și de Gus și Call din Lonesome Dove.” Charles Frazier, autorul romanului Cold Mountain „Un western care nu trebuie ratat de admiratorii lui Jiles și nici de pasionații de ficțiune istorică texană.” Library Journal „Vești din lumea întreagă este o carte de mici dimensiuni, însă de mare rafinament, despre bucuria de a fi liber (simțită chiar și în apropierea unui râu nestăpânit ale cărui ape amenință să iasă din matcă); despre descoperirea neașteptată a dragostei posesive dintre două persoane care nu au mai trăit nicicând asemenea sentimente; despre aventura în stare pură în sălbăticia Texasului neîmblânzit; despre împăcarea a două culturi atât de diferite [...]. Mai este și despre vremuri prețuite și de mult apuse, când veștile reprezentau un bun valoros, iar un cititor de mare clasă precum căpitanul Kidd putea totodată să informeze publicul nerăbdător și să îi ofere spectacol.” The New York Times ISBN ebook: 9786060882435

Governor-General''s Literary Award winner Paulette Jiles has brought together in this collection a selection of poems representative of her work over the last decade. Many of her poems exploring the white frozen interior of the Canadian north will be found in this volume, as well as a series of poems calling up the bar and bawdy-house days of composer Scott Joplin''s ragtime - appearing here in book form for the first time. Jiles'' delight is in narrative lyrically evoking the landscape through which her stories travel. In "Song to the Rising Sun", commissioned for CBC Radio, she celebrates the Arctic landscape even as pollution threatens its harsh purity.

O ano é 1870. Quando a palavra de um homem bastava. O capitão Jefferson Kyle Kidd empreende uma jornada pelo inóspito território do Texas, para levar uma garota para a casa de parentes. Eles não se conhecem, mas juntos terão de enfrentar desafios de forças humanas e naturais, enquanto procuram um lugar para chamar de lar. Uma história vibrante, com personagens saídos do Velho Oeste e primorosamente escrita, este romance foi indicado para o 2016 Book Award e tornou-se filme de sucesso com Tom Hanks em 2021.

Texas, 1865, guerra di Secessione, anno quinto. Grazie alla faccia e alla statura da bambino, e al violino Markneukirchen che incanta chiunque l’ascolti, Simon Boudlin è riuscito a sfuggire agli occhiuti reclutatori confederati. Ne ha visti tanti di orrori, il violinista itinerante, e sa soltanto che a nessun costo vuole imbracciare un’arma. Poi però arriva il giorno in cui, coinvolto in una rissa da saloon, viene arruolato a forza. Simon fa resistenza come può, prima all’addestramento, dopo sulle rive del Rio Grande, teatro di un’ultima, inutile vittoria sudista di una guerra ormai persa. Senza nemmeno aspettare il foglio di congedo dai vincitori, Simon prende il largo insieme ad altri tre musicisti che, come lui, sperano di trovare fortuna e soldi altrove: Damon, con la passione per Edgar Allan Poe e il flauto irlandese; Doroteo, tejano e chitarrista; il giovane Patrick, tamburino dell’esercito con il suo bodhràn. Comincia così un vagabondaggio del quartetto di musici attraverso il Texas devastato dalla furia degli eserciti e dalla febbre gialla, percorso da gente affamata e cenciosa, ma anche abitato da una natura intatta e primitiva. Un viaggio irto di difficoltà in cui la musica – quella che i quattro devono imparare a suonare insieme – è la stella polare di Simon, come lo è il pensiero di quella ragazza irlandese con i capelli corvini che gli ha rubato il cuore e che sente come un destino ad attenderlo in fondo a quel lungo cammino. Dopo il successo di Notizie dal mondo, da cui è stato tratto l’omonimo film con Tom Hanks, Paulette Jiles torna con un romanzo di grande atmosfera dove, fra superbe descrizioni e un’attenzione artistica al dettaglio, ci racconta una storia minore, se inscritta nella più grande storia della frontiera, ma che ben presto mostra il suo respiro epico, con i suoi personaggi coraggiosi e vitali, in cui brilla la luce di un’umanità non ancora sconfitta. «La scrittura scarna e lirica di Jiles è una gioia per gli occhi e per la mente. Una storia in cui perdersi». Associated Press «Al lettore sembra di assistere a una specie di miracolo alchemico, quando personaggi, paesaggio e musica si fondono sulla pagina in un’unica nota, dando vita a un’umanità autentica che vale la pena ricordare e celebrare». The New York Times «Paulette Jiles ha fatto della ricerca del passato l’obiettivo della sua carriera». Corriere della Sera «Una prosa luminosa». Los Angeles Times

Après la guerre civile, le capitaine Jefferson Kyle Kidd parcourt le nord du Texas et lit à voix haute des articles de journaux, devant un public à ce point avide des nouvelles du monde qu''il est prêt à payer pour les entendre. Le vieil homme, veuf, qui a connu trois guerres et vivait jadis de son métier d''imprimeur, profite à présent de sa liberté pour sillonner les routes. Lors d''une étape à Wichita Falls, on lui offre une pièce d''or pour ramener une jeune orpheline à la famille qu''il lui reste, près de San Antonio. Quatre ans auparavant, des Indiens Kiowa avaient massacré ses parents et sa soeur, mais épargné la fillette, qu''ils avaient élevée comme une des leurs. A 10 ans, Johanna, les yeux bleus et les cheveux couleur sucre d''érable, vient une fois de plus d''être arrachée à son seul foyer par l''armée américaine. Le capitaine Kidd accepte cette mission, sachant combien le voyage sera long et difficile. Leur périple à travers des territoires vierges, sur des routes impitoyables, s''avère dangereux. Le gouvernement fédéral est aux mains d''une administration corrompue ; anarchie et illégalité ont pris le dessus. Le capitaine doit se méfier des voleurs, des Comanches et des Kiowas autant que de l''armée fédérale, et apprivoiser la sauvage Johanna. L''enfant a oublié l''anglais, elle tente de s''échapper à la moindre occasion, veut à tout prix se débarrasser de ses chaussures et refuse de se conduire de façon "civilisée" . Pourtant, au fil des kilomètres, elle baisse la garde pour se rapprocher de celui qu''elle nomme "Kep-Dun" . A San Antonio, un autre obstacle les attend, et le respectable vieil homme se retrouve face à un choix terrible qui décidera du sort de Johanna - mais aussi du sien. Paulette Jiles situe son roman dans un territoire à la fois beau et inhospitalier, et explore les limites de la famille, de la responsabilité, de l''honneur et de la confiance.

Autobiography of Cauthorn who was prominent in dance and the arts in San Antonio during the 1940s-1960s. Married into one of West Texas'' biggest ranching families and lived in Del Rio. An accident left her husband an invalid, and Cauthorn, with two babies still in diapers, ran the 40,000 acre sheep ranch herself.