Overview
A myth-busting novel about America's most infamousand beloved outlaw, Billy the Kid, from a critically acclaimed
historical novelist
According to legend, Billy the Kid killed twenty-one men, one for
every year of his short life; stole from wealthy cattle barons to give
to the poor; and wooed just about every señorita in the American Southwest.
In Lucky Billy, John Vernon digs deeply into the historical record to
find a truth more remarkable than the legend, and draws a fresh, nuanced
portrait of this outlaw's dramatic and violent life.
Billy the Kid met his celebrated end at the hands of Pat Garrett, his
one-time carousing partner turned sheriff, who tracked Billy down after
the jail break that made him famous. In Vernon's telling, the crucial event
of Billy's life was the Lincoln County War, a conflict between a ring of
Irishmen in control of Lincoln, New Mexico, and a newcomer from England,
John Tunstall, who wanted to break their grip on the town. Billy
signed on with Tunstall. The conflict spun out of control with Tunstall's
murder, and in a series of revenge killings, an obscure hired gunman
called Kid Antrim became Billy the Kid.
Besides a full complement of gunfights, jail breaks, and bawdy
behavior, Lucky Billy is a provocative picture of the West at a critical
juncture between old and new. It is also a portrait of an American icon
made human, caught in the middle, more lost than brave, more naïve than
principled, more of an accidental survivor than simply the cold-blooded
killer of American myth.
Synopsis
A myth-busting novel about America's most infamous
and beloved outlaw, Billy the Kid, from a critically acclaimed
historical novelist
According to legend, Billy the Kid killed twenty-one men, one for
every year of his short life; stole from wealthy cattle barons to give
to the poor; and wooed just about every señorita in the American Southwest.
In Lucky Billy, John Vernon digs deeply into the historical record to
find a truth more remarkable than the legend, and draws a fresh, nuanced
portrait of this outlaw's dramatic and violent life.
Billy the Kid met his celebrated end at the hands of Pat Garrett, his
one-time carousing partner turned sheriff, who tracked Billy down after
the jail break that made him famous. In Vernon's telling, the crucial event
of Billy's life was the Lincoln County War, a conflict between a ring of
Irishmen in control of Lincoln, New Mexico, and a newcomer from England,
John Tunstall, who wanted to break their grip on the town. Billy
signed on with Tunstall. The conflict spun out of control with Tunstall's
murder, and in a series of revenge killings, an obscure hired gunman
called Kid Antrim became Billy the Kid.
Besides a full complement of gunfights, jail breaks, and bawdy
behavior, Lucky Billy is a provocative picture of the West at a critical
juncture between old and new. It is also a portrait of an American icon
made human, caught in the middle, more lost than brave, more naïve than
principled, more of an accidental survivor than simply the cold-blooded
killer of American myth.
The New York Times - Ben Macintyre
Vernon has taken what is known and filled the wide gaps with fiction. The result is a little like an early black-and-white western film: the plot jerks about, the picture wobbles, unfocused characters come and go, often without explanation, and the slow-motion gunplay seems amateurish. But all of this adds to the novel's credibility. There was nothing Hollywood slick about Billy the Kid's short life and squalid death…Billy the Kid was never his own man. Vernon's Billy reflects that "there's plenty of Billies," then adds, "I'm the made-up one." The real Billy the Kid exists only in snapshot. He was invented and reinvented, by himself and others, during his lifetime and after. No one ever caught him, but this novel comes close.
Editorials
Ben Macintyre
Vernon has taken what is known and filled the wide gaps with fiction. The result is a little like an early black-and-white western film: the plot jerks about, the picture wobbles, unfocused characters come and go, often without explanation, and the slow-motion gunplay seems amateurish. But all of this adds to the novel's credibility. There was nothing Hollywood slick about Billy the Kid's short life and squalid death…Billy the Kid was never his own man. Vernon's Billy reflects that "there's plenty of Billies," then adds, "I'm the made-up one." The real Billy the Kid exists only in snapshot. He was invented and reinvented, by himself and others, during his lifetime and after. No one ever caught him, but this novel comes close.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Billy the Kid rides again in this literary retelling of his legendary and bloody career. The story begins with his bold escape from the Lincoln, N.Mex., jail in April 1881, then flashes back to his capture by former friend Sheriff Pat Garrett. The narrative travels back and forth between Billy's final escape and his earlier role in the Lincoln County war. Although the novel touches on familiar incidents in Billy's life, it also hews close to historical research in showing how the war for control of Lincoln County between the Murphy-Dolan Irish merchant ring and upstart English rancher/merchant John Tunstall was a continuation of Anglo-Irish enmity. After Tunstall is murdered, Billy goes gunning for members of the Irish ring. A pardon from New Mexico territorial governor Gen. Lew Wallace comes to naught, and the familiar story grinds to its inevitable end. Although Doyle makes dramatic use of research into Anglo-Irish tensions in the Old West, the Billy presented here is too one-dimensional to make us understand why his legend continues to hold sway in the popular imagination 127 years after his death. (Nov.)
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