Título: The Madstone: A Novel
Autor: Elizabeth Crook
Sinopse: “A wonderfully transporting tale of love in the Old West” (People Magazine) and “a brilliant, beautiful page-turner” (Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Double Blind) about a pregnant young mother, her child, and the frontier tradesman who helps them flee vengeful outlaws, in a work that echoes Lonesome Dove and News of the World.
Texas hill country, 1868. As nineteen-year-old Benjamin Shreve tends to business in his workshop, he witnesses a stagecoach strand a passenger. When the man, a treasure hunter, persuades Benjamin to help track down the vanished coach—and a mysterious fortune left aboard—Benjamin is drawn into a drama whose scope he could never have imagined, for they discover on reaching the coach that its passengers include Nell, a pregnant young woman, and her four-year-old son, Tot, who are fleeing Nell’s brutal husband and his murderous brothers.
Having told the Freedmen’s Bureau the whereabouts of her husband’s gang—a sadistic group wanted for countless acts of harassment and violence against Black citizens—Nell is in grave danger. If her husband catches her, he will kill her and take their son. Learning of their plight, Benjamin offers to deliver Nell and Tot to a distant port on the Gulf of Mexico, where they can board a ship to safety. He is joined in this chivalrous act by two other companions: the treasure hunter whose stranding began this endeavor and a restless Black Seminole who is a veteran of wars on both sides of the Rio Grande and who has an escape plan of his own.
Fraught with jeopardy from the outset, the trek across Texas becomes still more dangerous as buried secrets, including a cursed necklace, emerge. And even as Benjamin falls in love with Nell and imagines a life as Tot’s father, vengeful pursuers are never far behind. With its vivid characters and expansive canvas, The Madstone calls to mind Lonesome Dove, yet Elizabeth Crook’s new novel is a singular achievement. Told in Benjamin’s resolute and unforgettable voice, it is full of eccentric action, unrelenting peril, and droll humor—a thrilling and beautifully rendered story of three people sharing a hazardous and defining journey that will forever bind them together.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “The Madstone: A Novel”, de Elizabeth Crook, publicado pela editora Little, Brown and Company, em 2023 e com 288 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Little, Brown and Company
Páginas: 288
Ano: 2023-11-07
Edição: 1
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 0316564346
ISBN13: 9780316564342
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Little, Brown and Company apresentam uma variedade notável de narrativas que transitam entre o suspense psicológico intenso e o relato detalhado de experiências humanas. A leitura frequentemente envolve personagens complexos em cenários que vão desde ilhas remotas até grandes cidades, com histórias que exploram desde investigações criminais até dramas pessoais profundos. O catálogo inclui obras que mesclam tensão crescente e atmosferas densas, além de textos que dialogam com temas contemporâneos como ciência, ética, e relações humanas. Há uma alternância perceptível entre narrativas mais literárias, com ritmo contemplativo e foco na psicologia dos personagens, e outras mais dinâmicas e orientadas para o desenrolar de tramas policiais ou de aventura.
