Whiskey When We're Dry
by John Larison
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Pub Date 25 Jul 2019 | Archive Date 25 Jul 2019
Oldcastle Books | No Exit Press
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Description
In the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family’s homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains. Her goal? To find her gun-slinging fugitive brother Noah and bring him home.
A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess’s quest lands her in the employ of the territory’s violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah – dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother’s outlaw identity, and haunted by questions of her own, Jess must outmanoeuvre whose who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right.
Told in Jess’s wholly original and unforgettable voice, the story brims with page-turning Western action, but its approach is modern and nuanced, touching on powerful issues from gender and sexuality to family and identity.
In the sweeping storytelling tradition of Larry McMurty’s Lonesome Dove and Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, Whiskey When We're Dry transcends the straight-and-narrow Western to land among the classics.
Advance Praise
'A tale of the Old West with a fresh perspective' - New York Post
'As in Charles Portis' classic ‘True Grit,' much of the appeal of the telling hangs upon the distinct voice of its narrator, and Jesse's narration combines folksy vernacular with an easy loping gait' - Seattle Times
'A thunderclap of originality, here is a fresh voice and fresh take on one of the oldest stories we tell about ourselves as Americans and Westerners. It's riveting in all the right ways -- a damn good read that stayed with me long after closing the covers' - Timothy Egan author of, The Worst Hard Time
'Film and TV rights have already been acquired by the team behind the Planet of the Apes reboot' - Entertainment Weekly
'Mulan meets Deadwood in a Wild West novel narrated by its straight-shooting heroine' - O Magazine
'Told in - Jessilyn's hard-hitting voice, [Whiskey When We're Dry] has the resonance of a high lonesome ballad' - Library Journal
'Larison writes with unrelenting momentum and thoughtfully explores questions of gender identity, power, and violence' - Outside Magazine
'[A] sweeping saga… John Larison's new book plunges readers into the American West while simultaneously reimagining the mythic frontier' - Southern Living
'Larison has developed a pitch-perfect voice for his intrepid heroine' - Publisher's Weekly
'Larison gifts Jess with a strong voice to narrate her own story…. his western epic has wide appeal' - Booklist
'Like Philipp Meyer's The Son or Robert Olmstead's Savage Country, Whiskey When We're Dry draws on Larison's own experiences with the ‘cowboy arts' to paint a vivid portrait of the American West as witnessed by an unforgettable character' - BookPage
'An evocative portrait of the old west with all its grittiness and all its openness' - The Roundtable
'As Jessilyn Harney takes on the great lies and liars with lyrical violence, her voice takes flight, becoming a sustained, forlornly beautiful, mind-bending aria for our age' - David James Duncan, author of, The River Why
'Whiskey When We're Dry is the story of a surprising heroine...Narrated in a voice cobbled out of slang and sagebrush, Larison's novel is a vivid and fast-paced frontier saga' - Kate Manning, author of, My Notorious Life
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9780857303189 |
| PRICE | £9.99 (GBP) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Siobhan D, Reviewer
Whiskey When We're Dry is a Western that touches on topics of gender and family, whilst also following a classic narrative of finding your way in the world and of what it means to be good or bad. The setting is the 1880s, and Jess Harney grows up learning from her father and brother, stealing the chance to practice shooting and not be restricted to more stereotypical roles. With her brother gone and a known fugitive and her father dead, Jess cuts her hair, binds her chest, and sets off on her mare to find her brother Noah and bring him home. As Jesse, a talented sharpshooter, she ends up employed by the governor whose militia is hunting for Noah, and a sequence of violence shows the reality of the life both Harneys now have.
Drawn by the treatment of gender and sexuality rather than the Western genre, the novel felt like a good way in, setting the scene but also full of questions of identity and family as well as action and adventure. The cost of violence was always close to the surface, rather than something that was just accepted, and the narration has a clear, memorable voice. The depiction of gender as being something acted and the way that Jess finds this often hard to articulate is very good. At times the narrative drifted a bit, possibly due to the length, but it was overall a good read that was thoughtful but also brought sharp Western action.
Janet (Beadyjan) L, Reviewer
I enjoyed this somewhat tongue in cheek Western with a cross-dressing wild Gal at it's heart. I liked the character Jess who becomes Jesse in order to track down her missing brother who has left home and become an outlaw. I liked her and wanted her to find happiness. I found the ending rather disjointed and confusing and too much fighting but overall it was an enjoyable read.
Maggie K, Reviewer
Synopsis
'In the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts off her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her outlaw brother Noah and bring him home'
This is an extremely well written epic tale of the Wild West. I couldn’t put this down and was up way into the night reading it. This is an adventure with many dead bodies and violent gunslingers.
It felt very gritty and very graphic. Those who were involved in the opening of the West really had hard challenging lives. The characters were true to life and well rounded. I loved my time with Jess who was one strong cowperson, whose voice carried the story.
Really would recommend this one.
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