The Swansong of Wilbur McCrum
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Wilbur McCrum is not a lucky man. Actually, he's not lucky, period - a fact that becomes obvious from the moment he first emerges, screaming, into the world - for Wilbur's birth coincides with his sister's death. And as Wilbur (prone to fits and with a pathological fear of cows) grows, he subsequently loses his father, and is then in turn lost - abandoned - by his mother. Dispossessed and passed from pillar to post, he's eventually left with no choice but to take to the road, the wind at his back and "lucky" potato in his pocket. As he searches for a place he can call home - somewhere far away from cows - he encounters madmen, conmen, wenches and whores; embarks on a career robbing stagecoaches (initially unwittingly); falls in love, and into a well; escapes bounty hunters and body snatchers; and, erm, becomes a librarian.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her debut novel, English author Kita effortlessly captures the spirit of the Wild West. Protagonist Wilbur McCrum can't help but concede his life has been one unlucky turn after another. Plagued by "fits" that suggest epilepsy, Wilbur is abandoned by one person after the next during his brief and tragic childhood. Soon, he's making his way in the world the best way he knows how not entirely above-board, as it turns out. Wilbur's humorous life as a ne'er-do-well reads like Moll Flanders meets Zane Grey. Best of all, Kita nails the vernacular of the times with great humor. Here, Wilbur sizes up a prostitute he's fallen in love with: "To me she'd have been well nigh perfect, iffen only she'd had a full set of teeth." Readers are assured a rollicking ride to the novel's emotional finish.
