Painted Horses

Starred review from March 24, 2014
Brooks’s debut captures the grandeur of the American West. Catherine Lemay, a former pianist, goes to Montana in the 1950s as a young archeologist to survey a valley for signs of native habitation before the area is flooded by a hydroelectric project. Catherine fell in love with archeology while digging at Roman sites in Britain as a student, but now in the ruggedly masculine West, she almost immediately butts heads with her assigned guide, Jack Allen. She also falls under the spell of John H., an artist and lover of horses who leads a nomadic life in the badlands. Catherine’s arduous search of the valley is contrasted for much of the novel with John H.’s harrowing life story. When the two meet, intrigue sparks respect, which eventually flares into passion. The middle of the novel bogs down with lavish description (“The tilt of the planet had outrun the legs of winter and dawn climbed early now over the wide lip of the world”), and the third act, in which Catherine’s findings threaten the balance of money and power in the community, follows a predicable course. But on the whole, this is a debut that captures a spirit of a place.

July 15, 2014
A mid-1950s oater that wants to comeover all cowboy and sensitive at the same time.Catherine Lemay, the heroine ofBrooks' debut, is a young archaeologist who's seen the aftermath of war pokingaround in the rubble of London. John H-she thinks it could stand for "horses,"but "hell raiser" is a reasonable candidate-rides the Western fence line,following the mustangs. He's known war up close, a member of the last Americanhorse cavalry unit to see combat, fighting the Germans in Italy. It stands toreason that, Montana being a small state and all, they'll meet and becomeintertwined like two wind-blasted strands of barbed wire. When Mr. H funs, hefuns, but when he and Catherine get serious, well....There's plenty to be seriousabout apart from sad reflections on the war, for a dam is coming to the couleein which the mustangs run, and both Catherine and John H have to make a stand:Do they serve progress, or do they fight for what's real about the West? Brooksdoes a good job of plotting, following parallel stories that speak to thatlarge question through characters who are more than just symbols-though they'rethat, too. There's some fine writing here, especially when it comes to horsesand the material culture that surrounds them, and when it comes to Westernlandscapes, too, for Brooks knows that in good Western writing, the land isalways a character. There's also some overwriting, along the lines of "[s]hewanted Audrey Williams to keep talking, wanted to know her story too, thefragments and pieces and the buried mysteries, wanted the whole vicarioustreasure of it." A little of that goes a long way, especially when Brooksplaces himself inside Catherine's head-and, from time to time, elsewhere in herbody.It's a sight better than TheBridges of Madison County, but it's a kindred project: Boy meets girl underopen sky, boy kisses girl, girl emotes, and then it's a whole new shootingmatch.

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Starred review from March 1, 2014

Set in grandly imposing Montana in the mid-1950s and weaving together Old World and New World archaeology while vividly portraying an American West now lost, this debut also works in miniature as it deftly portrays two characters who become unlikely allies. Catherine Lemay, a young archaeologist tasked with determining whether anything of historical value is threatened by a dam project, comes to appreciate the landscape's rough beauty with the help of John H, a former mustanger now hiding away in the canyon Catherine is assessing. With a five-city tour.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
Set in an American West of the 1950s but carrying vestiges of the nineteenth century, and with Indian artifacts and the ancestry of wild horses going back even earlier, much of this novel, like its milieu, has a timeless feel. Catherine Lemay is a young archaeologist hired to explore a Montana canyon slated for damming and destruction, although she may have been hired specifically to find nothing, no evidence of why some of the local Crow Indians oppose construction of the dam. She is aided by Miriam, a young Crow woman (whose centenarian great-grandmother connects back to the Greasy Grass and Custer), and assisted (or not) by local horsemen and townspeople with a variety of interests in the land's future. Two of the horsemen, including the enigmatic John H, served together in the mounted cavalry in wartime Italy, and, though some readers will rightly find in Brooks' themes suggestions of Jim Harrison or Cormac McCarthy, the lengthy wartime flashbacks nicely recall vintage Hemingway. The book loses some credibility as it develops more contemporary plot elements, but its vividly drawn atmosphere and strong characters will keep the reader engaged.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2014

In post-World War II America, Catherine Lemay eschews convention, choosing archaeology over marriage to a Manhattan banker. She goes to work for the River Basin Survey near the Montana-Wyoming border to identify any significant archaeological sites before the Harris Power and Light dams the river and floods the canyon. The building of the dam is whipping up bad blood on all sides. Even the Crow Indians can't agree, as some are willing to sacrifice their sacred canyon for jobs. Jack Allen, a despicable mustang wrangler who guides Catherine on her daily trips into the canyon, is paid by Dub Harris to lead her astray. Undaunted, Catherine enlists the help of Crow girl Miriam, who has modern ideas, to find the ancient cave paintings rumored to be in the canyon. During these excursions, Catherine encounters mysterious cowboy John H, a loner with a penchant for leaving behind painted handprints. His connection to Jack prompts him to become Catherine's ally, but neither anticipates Dub's dirty tricks. VERDICT Brooks delivers an authentic story, examining in gripping, page-turning prose what it means to live in the West, as Catherine says, "The best way to understand the present and to take some control over the future is to know what happened in the past." An outstanding debut novel that will linger in the reader's mind.--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.