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Overview
In the 1960s, Tommy Bedford has the magnificent luck of escaping boarding school and moving to Hollywood to live with his older sister, rising ingénue Diane Reed, and her beau, suave cowboy actor Ray Montane. For a time, life is full and glamorous. But Hollywood has a darker side, and one day a shocking and deadly confrontation forces Diane and Tommy to flee.
Decades later, Tom Bedford has retreated into the isolated wilds of Montana. His biggest secret has corroded his life and ruined his marriage. Only when Danny, Tom's estranged son, is charged with murder while serving in Iraq is Tom finally forced to reckon with his demons. As he fights to save the son he has let slip away, Tom must confront the violence in his own past-and learn the true meaning of bravery.
Editorials
Carol Haggas
Ever the master of intense and complex relationships, Evans has crafted a time-traveling plot that admirably juggles issues of identity and fidelity to one's self and one's principles.— Booklist
Dan Forrest
Evans displays a sure hand at drawing characters and their motivations and settings as diverse as a gloomy boarding school, glamorous Hollywood, and the wide-open spaces of the West. This should appeal to all lovers of good storytelling.— Library Journal
Kelly Blewett
The Brave is an engrossing tale that ... suggest[s] that, as Faulkner said, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." Fans of The Horse Whisperer won't want to miss this complex and satisfying story. For readers who have not had the pleasure of reading Evans, but are looking to get lost in a big novel with larger-than-life characters, The Brave is sure to fit the bill.— BookPage
Publishers Weekly
As a student at the Ashlawn Preparatory School in 1959 England, eight-year-old, cowboy-crazy Tommy Bedford, the hero of Evans's latest outdoor soap opera, is teased for being a bed wetter and gets the shock of his young life when he learns that his sister, glamorous "Next Big Thing" actress Diane Reed, is really his mother. Soon afterwards, she and Tommy move to L.A., where Diane falls for TV cowboy Ray Montane, and their tortured relationship leads to a horrifying act of violence that has lifelong repercussions for Tommy. In a parallel, present-day plot, 50-ish Tom, now a writer and documentary filmmaker who specializes in the American West, lives in Montana, is divorced and estranged from his adult son, Danny, who has been accused of committing an atrocity while serving in Iraq, for which he will be tried in a military court. Alternating past and present, Evans expertly juggles his twin narratives until they come shatteringly together as father and son yield to the combined weight of the secrets they hide. Combining elements of the prep school drama, the Hollywood novel, the western, and the war story, Evans (The Horse Whisperer) skillfully mixes genres to create a real crowd-pleaser. (Oct.)Library Journal
The author of the best-selling Horse Whisperer brings us the tale of Tom Bedford, from his childhood in an English boarding school to Hollywood with his movie-star mother and now to Montana, where he lives alone after a failed marriage. The news of the arrest of his son, a Marine stationed in Iraq, for war crimes brings up painful memories of Tom's past and a shocking secret he has never told anyone. The story alternates between scenes of Tom's turbulent childhood, as he struggles to understand the hidden depths of events around him, and the present, as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged son and atone for the sins of the past. VERDICT In his first novel in five years Evans displays a sure hand at drawing characters and their motivations and settings as diverse as a gloomy boarding school, glamorous Hollywood, and the wide-open spaces of the West. This should appeal to all lovers of good storytelling.—Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling GreenBook Details
Published
August 28, 2012
Publisher
Little, Brown & Company
Pages
416
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780316033763