What readers think of News of the World, plus links to write your own review.

I like this novel a lot. It's the story a 400-mile journey through a lawless Texas in the 1870s, by horseback, a well-used wagon, and on foot. Retired Army Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, who is 70 years old and feeling his age, is offered a $50 gold piece to take a 10-year-old orphan who was abducted by Kiowa Indians when she was 6, after seeing her mother and sister killed, to relatives in San Antonio. She is member of the tribe, but the Kiowas no longer want her. It's reasonable for Kidd to take Johanna with him as he earns his keep by reading entertaining newspapers in various towns. Similarly, Paulette tells the story, not as a narrator, but as a reporter, with details of the terrain; the towns; the people, many of whom hate Indians; of Kidd's efforts to try to reteach Johanna some of the culture she is supposed to reenter.

One of the most enjoyable facets of Jiles' writing is in its cinematic quality. This is a Western, albeit unconventional. What is it like to have to immerse yourself in a culture completely alien to what you are used to? A bond grows between two people who are unlikely to care for each other; how does that happen? I didn't want to see the novel end, the story of Judd and Johanna cries for more. I highly recommend this book, and will seek out other works by Paulette Jiles.

I just loved this book. Paulette Jiles certainly brings the characters and their surroundings to life. I knew nothing about circuit riders after the Civil War who delivered readings of exotic news to eager audiences on the frontier. This is how Captain Kidd makes his living. He is a man of his word with a big heart, and when he promises to deliver a 10 year-old German American girl to her relatives for a price, he and his charge make their way to the San Antonio area where those relatives live.

In the late 1800s on the Texas frontier, the Kiowa and other Indian tribes kidnapped children for shocking purposes. What life is like for those captured unfolds slowly but vividly in Jiles's narrative. This is a touching story filled with both humor and raw descriptions of Texas life. Every scene is described so clearly that the reader becomes part of the narrative.

I highly recommend that you put this little gem on your reading list now!

This book is a movie that should be made. I have already cast the characters in my mind. I will be sending this as gifts to my friends. I love historical fiction and this period in time is a great one. The relationship between the Captain & Johanna is a wonderful one. What a gem!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I was caught up in the relationship between Johanna and the Captain. The book brought the era and location to life. I plan to recommend it to others.

This is a delightful book. That may seem a strange adjective to use about Texas after the Civil War. But the author manages to mix tales about the region and time to bring it to life, and to portray he characters, particularly Johanna, so that they walk off the pages.

And periodically she uses language that makes the reader sit up and take notice. Two that struck this reader are "a shy and obsequious road that dodged every bank and lift and wound through the pecan trees and never insisted on its own way" and "He looked as if he had combed his stiff yellow hair with a skillet."

It was a period that this reader knew nothing about, and a social habit about how people in small towns in rural Texas got the news. Fun to read and informative.

News of the World got me from the first page. I am not much of a fan of westerns, but this is more than a western; it's a story of an elderly man, Captain Kidd, who makes his living telling news in a townhall-like setting to the outback Texans who are eager to hear what's going on in the world.

His routine is interrupted when a young girl who was captured in a Kiowa indian raid that killed her parents is traded back. She now needs to be returned to her relatives but they are 400 miles away. For a $50 gold piece Captain Kidd takes on the responsibility and their adventure together begins. (The map provided with the book was very good to help show the route of the journey.)

Miss Jiles has written a poignant story of learning to trust and in the end love.

News of the World is an amazing compact novel full of historical insights into post Civil War Texas. The area is still untamed, full of Indians and Military - many without leadership. There is a governor, but most people live by their own rules, self governing their spot on earth.

The residents are fascinated by the world outside Texas, but do not seem to understand that change is coming. The two worlds - Military, Captain Kidd and Indian, Johanna, collide in this haunting story. You will end up cheering them on as they forge through seemingly unbelievable circumstances to form a family bond.

The beauty of unformed and wild Texas comes through in the author's stark descriptions of the landscape in every chapter, but as the leaves burst forth and the sun again warms the earth, the two travelers are also reborn and enter a new life phase. Highly Recommended!

I'm not a big fan of historical fiction but News of the World is as compelling as any contemporary novel I know. 1870's Texas - what a seething cauldron of issues and peoples! (Not unlike our own time.) How interesting to view it through the wry voice of a senior citizen war veteran and a damaged but plucky 10-year old girl. Top-notch author Paulette Giles deftly spins a tale of adventure that asks big moral questions while it entertains. She also describes the beauty of the land with the eye of a true naturalist. Her prose is really lovely. Also lovely: the nifty map of Texas enclosed with the book. I highly recommend this book and think it would be especially suited to book clubs. The Ten Cent Shootout alone is worth the price of the book!