Paradise Sky
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A rollicking novel about Nat Love, an African-American cowboy with a famous nickname: Deadwood Dick.
Young Willie is on the run, having fled his small Texas farm when an infamous local landowner murdered his father. A man named Loving takes him in and trains him in the fine arts of shooting, riding, reading, and gardening. When Loving dies, Willie re-christens himself Nat Love in tribute to his mentor, and heads west.
In Deadwood, South Dakota Territory, Nat becomes a Buffalo Soldier and is befriended by Wild Bill Hickok. After winning a famous shooting match, Nat's peerless marksmanship and charm earn him the nickname Deadwood Dick, as well as a beautiful woman. But the hellhounds are still on his trail, and they brutally attack Nat Love's love. Pursuing the men who have driven his wife mad, Nat heads south for a final, deadly showdown against those who would strip him of his home, his love, his freedom, and his life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-winner Lansdale's folksy, cinematic fictional memoir tells the story of a man who was born a slave before the Civil War but grew up to become the legendary Deadwood Dick. Willie Jackson is just running an errand in a nameless East Texas town when he happens to glimpse the back end of Sam Ruggert's wife while she's bending over a clothes basket in her yard. Sam sees Willie looking at her, and in short order, Willie gets "invited to a lynching" and chooses, as an alternative, to flee. He's taken in by Tate Loving, who teaches him much about life, including the proficient use of firearms. When forced to flee again, Willie changes his name to Nat Love and heads west to join the Army at Fort McKavett. He and another former slave, Cullen, are the only survivors of an Apache ambush on their unit, after which the two decide to leave soldiering behind. Eventually, he and Collen make their way north to Deadwood, S.D. In Deadwood, Nat meets a beautiful young woman, saves the life of Wild Bill Hickok, and reencounters Sam Ruggert, who still has it in for him. Lansdale (The Thicket) fills his pages with true-hearted heroes, dastardly scoundrels, and rollicking adventures. Author tour.
