Over the past decade or so I’ve read several modern takes on westerns, the most enjoyable of which was Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers although Glenn Taylor’s The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggert and A Hanging at Cinder Bottom were also thoroughly entertaining. A couple of years ago the more sober How Much of These Hills is Gold was much acclaimed with its reimagining of the American Goldrush seen through the eyes of two bereaved Chinese Americans children. Set in a Dodge City brothel, Claudia Cravens’ Lucky Red offers another spin on the genre as the orphaned Bridget falls hard for Spartan Lee, a female bounty hunter who brings a big prize to town.
All of which is to say that though I ended up a pretty girl in boy’s clothes, mounted like a woman and armed like a man, I started much smaller and simpler, and mostly alone.
Bridget’s father arrives home with a piece of paper promising a bright future in Kansas in the form of twenty acres. They set off with little idea of how to get from their Arkansas home, stopping to shelter in a deserted dwelling where a rattlesnake gets the better of her father leaving Bridget to fend for herself. More by luck than judgement, she lands in The Buffalo Queen Saloon, picked out by its madam for her red hair and good looks. Bridget takes to her work with alacrity, soon the favourite of the local sheriff who offers much needed protection for the establishment until he decides he wants to make an honest woman of Bridget. Fresh from her crush on Sallie, told to leave the brothel when a trick meets an untimely end, Bridget is in the grips of an obsession with Spartan Lee, sister of the notorious Lee brothers, and turns him down. With Jim’s presence no longer curbing the worst excesses of its clientele, the Buffalo Queen slips into dangerous territory unnoticed by Bridget until things go horribly wrong.
Whoring is like any profession in that there’s a knack to it, and it turned out I had the knack.
Bridget is a wonderfully engaging narrator, spinning out her life as a ‘sporting woman’ in a sassy, witty voice while revealing her dangerous naivete. There’s lots of dramatic, vividly descriptive storytelling to enjoy spiced with a hefty helping of humour. Cravens’ story is neatly plotted, its pleasingly clever setup coming together at the end in a satisfying denouement. If you’re in the market for a funny feminist, lesbian, subversive western, or even if you’re not, I highly recommend this one. Altogether an entertaining yarn which would make a brilliant movie in the right hands.
Allen & Unwin: London 9781838956738 304 pages Hardback (Read via NetGalley)
It sounds oddly charming.
It is! Bridget is quite endearing.
I’ve not read any modern takes on the Western genre. I haven’t read The Sisters Brothers, though I remember seeing lots of praise for it. I must admit this does sound very entertaining.
It’s great fun, and a very clever set up!
Oh this sounds fun. I did love The Sisters Brothers…
Oh, me, too. Still my favourite deWitt. This one’s very well done. I think you’d enjoy it.
I’ve had great and unexpected success with the western genre (Lonesome Dove and sequels, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Border trilogy) so I’ve wishlisted these. Thanks.
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy them. Interesting that the genre seems to have had a revival. I wonder what sparked it.
This does sound an entertaining spin on the genre, and Bridget seems a fun character to get to know!
She certainly is. I think Claudia Cravens had a lot of fun writing this one.
This sounds like a romp, quite literally!
It absolutely is. Great fun!
This sounds like a real page-turner! Not one I would have picked up but you have me totally convinced!
I was a little uncertain when I chose this one but it’s a treat! So cleverly plotted and such smart, funny characters.