Excerpt from News of the World by Paulette Jiles, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Well, he said.

I knew you would, said Britt.

Yes, said the Captain. So.

Britt's skin was saddle-colored but now paler than it usually was because the rainy winter had kept the sun from his face for months. He reached into the pocket of his worn ducking coat and brought out the coin. It was a shining sulky color, a Spanish coin of eight escudos in twenty-two carat, and all the edge still milled, not shaved. A good deal of money; everyone in Texas was counting their nickels and dimes and glad to have them since the finances of the state had collapsed and both news and hard money were difficult to come by. Especially herein North Texas, near the banks of the Red River, on the edge of Indian Territory.

Britt said, That's what the family sent up to the Agent. Her parents names were Jan and Greta. They were killed when they captured her. Take it, he said. And be careful of her.

As they watched the girl slid down between the freight boxes and bales as if fainting and pulled the thick blanket over her head. She was weary of being stared at.

Britt said, She'll stay there the night. She's got nowhere to go. She can't get hold of any weapons that I can think of. He took up the lamp and stepped back. Be really careful.

Excerpted from News of the World by Paulette Jiles. Copyright © 2016 by Paulette Jiles. Excerpted by permission of William Morrow. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.