Far Bright Star
By Robert Olmstead
(Thorndike Press, Hardcover, Large Print, 9781410416049, 279pp.)
Publication Date: May 2009
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Categories: War & Military, Historical - General
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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the June 2009 Indie Next List“Napoleon Childs, a veteran soldier, is on the hunt for Pancho Villa in the rough terrain of northern Mexico. Accompanying him is a group of young soldiers who have not yet seen the brutality of war. After a terrible encounter with a band of renegade soldiers in search of vengeance, Napoleon, beaten and shot, is left stranded to try to survive on his own. Olmstead is incredibly adept at describing the horrors of battle contrasted with the beauty of reflection and hope, and he is at his best in Far Bright Star.”
-- Sherri Gallentine, Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA
Description
Set in 1916, "Far Bright Star" follows Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman, as he leads an expedition of inexperienced soldiers into the mountains of Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa and bring him to justice. Though he is seasoned at such missions, things go terribly wrong and the patrol is brutally attacked. After witnessing the demise of his troops, Napoleon is left by his captors to die in the desert.
Through him we enter the conflicted mind of a warrior as he tries to survive against all odds, as he seeks to make sense of a lifetime of senseless wars and to reckon with the reasons a man would choose a life on the battlefield. Olmstead, an award-winning writer, uses his precise, descriptive prose to explore the endurance and fate of the last horse soldiers. The result is a tightly wound novel that is as moving as it is terrifying.
Through him we enter the conflicted mind of a warrior as he tries to survive against all odds, as he seeks to make sense of a lifetime of senseless wars and to reckon with the reasons a man would choose a life on the battlefield. Olmstead, an award-winning writer, uses his precise, descriptive prose to explore the endurance and fate of the last horse soldiers. The result is a tightly wound novel that is as moving as it is terrifying.
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