All True Not a Lie in It

July 25, 2016
This historical fiction debut is a quiet, sweeping story about the life of mythic frontiersman Daniel Boone. Told entirely from the perspective of Boone himself, the book meanders through his early childhood, sharing formative moments such as his joy for the first gun he owned and his brother Isaiah teaching him to hunt, and his family's exile from their religious community in Exeter, N.H. From there, the reader follows Boone on his peripatetic adventures as he pushes westward, searching for paradise. Though Boone does marry and start a family, he can't be tied down and has a constant itch to carry on his search for heaven on earth. Adventure is both wondrous and tragic for Boone, who sees his first herd of buffalo and traverses the beautiful, untouched land of Kentucky but also has multiple run-ins with the Shawnee and grieves the deaths of loved ones. The narrative is carried by the strong, poetic voice, which at times is as hard to pin down as the man himself. Boone's ghostsâof both people and placesâfollow and haunt him despite his attempts to shake them off through almost constant exploration into the unknown. Hawley's marvelous book shines light on a figure that has become more legend than man, sharing an intimate and raw portrayal of Boone that rings true. Agent: Denise Bukowski, Bukowski Agency.

June 1, 2016
A thoroughly researched historical novel reimagines the life of 18th-century frontiersman Daniel Boone, transforming him into a brooding observer of the fall of a country he'd like to consider Paradise.The first novel by short story writer Hawley (The Old Familiar, 2008) uses as a framework what is known of Boone's life, beginning with his impoverished childhood in a Quaker community in Pennsylvania and ending, rather abruptly, as the Indians who have either, depending on one's perspective, captured or adopted him prepare to attack the fort Boone and others have built in Kentucky. (A sequel is evidently in the works.) In between, Boone witnesses--and causes--many a death, marries, fathers a bunch of children, moves his family several times, sets off on hunts that last months or years, is captured by Indians, escapes, and is captured again. The close adherence to chronology makes for an episodic novel in which the only consistent character is Boone himself. The frontiersman tells his story, presumably from the point of view of old age but in the present tense. The world he describes, full of squalor and natural beauty and blood, is richly detailed, and the dialogue sharp and well-trimmed. Boone himself, however, often seems more literary device than believable character. Depressive and romantic, he is continually haunted by an increasingly crowded swarm of ghosts, beginning with the brother who died when Boone was an adolescent and the horse he had to kill when it broke its leg. While not much is known of Boone's inner life, since he left few written records, his actions don't necessarily jibe with the introspective, language-besotted dreamer Hawley creates, the one who often feels that he is living in "a long half-dream."The novel sets out to take Daniel Boone from myth to man--but in the process, it transplants him into another sort of literary myth.

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July 1, 2016
Daniel Boone is a man haunted. In this gripping debut novel from Hawley, the colonial American frontiersman is portrayed as someone filled with regret for his actions, whether they were lethal or seemingly small lapses in behavior. From his childhood in a Quaker community, Boone is an avid hunter with a sense that he does not fully belong. After his family is cast out by the Friends, he begins to forge his own path, joining the French and Indian War and eventually leading expeditions into the Kentucky territory. He is then captured and adopted into a Shawnee tribe, where he straddles the uneasy boundary between his dual identity as prisoner and son of the chief. Hawley captures the brutality of frontier living with stark, evocative writing. Far from a lone hunter and explorer, this Boone is thoroughly entangled by his relationships, whether to his captivating but tough wife or to a childhood companion who dogs his steps, despite Boone's barely concealed loathing of him. With impressive scope and detail, this novel brings forward the man from the myth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)