Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2008
304 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
Missy is laudanum, or liquid opium. Missy is Dol McQueen, a nineteen-year-old “flash-girl” traveling the arduous wagon trail from San Francisco to the boomtowns of the Sierra Nevada. Her purpose: to fleece the silver miners and to have a marvelous time.
Permanently gonged on missy, Dol and her entrepreneurial instincts wake up only when she comes into possession of a rum crate full of pure opium. But the crate has several owners, each more brutal than the last. Soon, instead of selling the boodle and opening her own establishment, Dol is fleeing across the salt flats and wastelands of the monumental American Southwest, where Civil War renegades, Native American mule thieves, and gangs of feral kids make hanging on to life a job for both hands. Chris Hannan has mixed the irresistible Mark Twain of Roughing It with Annie Proulx’s brilliantly macabre wordplay, and the result is a historical novel of startling originality, in which every detail rings true. Dol McQueen is the most engaging antiheroine since Becky Sharp, and she makes Missy a debut of terrific energy, freshness, and delight.
BookBrowse Review
There are a number of good things about Missy, by Chris Hannan. The
overall narrative is entertaining, and much of the writing is first-rate.
Hannan has a gift for finding humor in rather dark circumstances, and there are
moments in Missy that are very funny. He also has quite an ear for
narration; the heroine's internal monologue often rings true and connects
solidly with the reader.
As historical fiction, however, Missy falls flat. Insufficient
detail is included the narrative to provide much sense of time or place.
Dol, the main character, comes off as manipulative and delusional as she pursues
her drug of choice across the plains at risk of life and limb. That might
work if the reader were to realize some sympathy for Dol, or at least gain some
admiration for her chutzpah, but neither develop. Her quest for a
relationship with her mother is written with no depth and serves mostly as a
distraction. Finally, Dol's voice is sometimes that of an old-West
call-girl, others that of a college graduate. This lack of stylistic
continuity can be grating.
Hannan does show a lot of promise as a writer, and some may enjoy this novel for
its high points. Those who enjoy high-quality historical fiction, however,
may want to give this one a pass. - Kim Kovacs 3/5 stars.
Other Reviews
"Starred Review. Hannan nails the setting, crafts a sizzling plot and, with Dol, gives readers a lovable, larger-than-life star." - Publishers Weekly.
"Starred Review. One cannot help but root for Dol as she withdraws onto the wagon trail, her pursuers ever near. This is a fantastic debut novel suitable for all public and academic libraries." - Library Journal.
"Starred Review. A rib-tickling picaresque romp with a heart of gold that even a hellfire-and-damnation preacher would warm to. Don't miss it." - Kirkus Reviews.
"Perhaps it's unsurprising that an award-winning playwright should have excelled in the creation of a character's voice, or that so much of the success of this debut novel should depend on that voice. But from the gorgeously sassy opening it is surprising how winning, and how powerful, the voice of Dol McQueen, 19th-century American "flash-girl" (or prostitute) actually is." - The Independent (UK).
"A world away from the romance of the cowboy film, Missy creates a visceral sense of the challenges of travelling through the desert, negotiating with native Americans, surviving bar-room brawls, scratching a living in shanty towns, fending off pimps and maintaining a steady intake of drink and opiates." - Scotland on Sunday.
This information about Missy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born in Clydebank, Scotland, son of a shipyard worker and a teacher, Chris Hannan graduated with first class honours from Oxford University before going to work with homeless people in a Glasgow night shelter. His award-winning plays include Shining Souls, The Evil Doers, Elizabeth Gordon Quinn and The Baby; and have been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre of Scotland and Sir Peter Hall at the Old Vic. In 2001/02 he was Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Drama at the University of Cambridge. He lives in Edinburgh.
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