What it’s About

A gritty western couched in the easy storytelling style of a folk ballad (think 3:10 to Yuma as sung by the Kingston Trio), Leif Enger’s highly anticipated second novel (his first was Peace Like a River) tells the story of outlaw Glendon Hale’s quest to right his past, as seen through the eyes of his unlikely companion Monte Becket.

So Brave, So Young, and Handsome begins with Becket, a struggling novelist bewildered by the success of his first book, who has pledged to his wife, son, and publisher to “write one thousand words a day until another book is finished.

“Four years and six unfinished novels later, Becket sits on the porch of his Minnesota farmhouse about to give up on number seven, when he spies a man standing up in his boat “rowing upstreamthrough the ropy mists of the Cannon River.”

Eager to set aside his waning tale about handsome ranch hand Dan Roscoe, Becket calls out to the mysterious white-haired boatman and his life changes forever.  At turns merry and wistful, romantic and tragic, So Brave, Young, and Handsome is as absorbing as a campfire tale, full of winking outlaws and relentless villains–the sort of story to keep you on the edge of your seat with hope in your heart.

Daphne Durham From Publishers Weekly Says

An inviting voice guides readers through this expansive saga of redemption in the early 20th-century West and gives a teeming vitality to a period often represented with stock phrases and stock characters. Novelist Monte Becket isn’t a terribly distinguished figure; his first and only published work hit five years before the story’s start and he is about to reclaim his job at a small town Minnesota post office when he meets Glendon Hale, a former outlaw who is traveling to Mexico to find his estranged wife.

He persuades Becket to join him, and the two set off on a long journey peopled with sharply carved characters (among them a Pinkerton thug tracking down Glendon) and splendid surprises.

As Monte’s narration continues, the tale veers away from Monte’s artistic struggle and becomes an adventure story. The progress has its listless moments, but Enger crafts scenes so rich you can smell the spilled whiskey and feel the grit. (May)

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