All True Not a Lie in It: A Novel

ISBN: 0062470094

Author: Hawley, Alix

Condition: New

The story of pioneer Daniel Boones life, told in his voice-a tall tale like no other, startling, funny, poignant, romantic and brawling-set during the American Revolutionary WarHere is Daniel Boone as youve never seen him: debut novelist Alix Hawley presents Boones life, from his childhood in a Quaker colony, through two stints captured by Indians as he attempted to settle Kentucky, the death of a son at the hands of the same Indians and the rescue of a daughter. The prose rivals Hilary Mantels and Peter Careys, conveying that sense of being inside the head of a storied historical figure about which much nonsense is spoken while also feeling completely contemporary.Boone was a fabulous hunter and explorer, and a white Indian, perhaps happiest when he found a place as the captive, adopted son of a chief who was trying to prevent the white settlement of Kentucky. Hawley takes us intimately into the life-and-death survival of people pushing away from security and into Indian lands, despite sense and treaties, just before and into the War of Independence.The love story between Boone and his wife, Rebecca, is rich and tangled, but mostly its Boone who fascinates, pushing into places where he imagines he can create a new clean world, only to find death and trouble and complication. He is a fabulous character, unrivaled in North American literature, and a prime candidate for the tall tale. The storytelling is taut and expert, the descriptions rich and powerful, the prose full of feeling, but Boone is what drives this outstanding debut.