cover image Mister Grey: Or the Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mister Grey: Or the Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Richard White. Four Walls Eight Windows, $18.95 (249pp) ISBN 978-0-941423-71-7

A moving tale of racism, kidnapping, love and the loss of innocence in the Wyoming Territory of the 1880s, this intelligent western transcends its genre to achieve emotional depth and timely relevance. Josiah Grey, half black, half Native American, is a gentlemanly, soft-spoken Harvard graduate who becomes the object of venomous hatred in the small Wyoming town that hires him as schoolmaster. Young Charles Prescott, the adventurous narrator, stumbles upon the dark secret that brought Grey to Wind River--a secret previously known only to Charlie's father, who edits the local newspaper, and to Sheriff Huck Finn, all grown up here and on loan from the Mark Twain classicas is, seems like stating the obvious . Finn, a straight shooter with a big heart who once abetted runaway slaves, is a key player in the wham-bang finale. Exploring frontier tensions and interracial romance, White ( Sword of the North ) imbues his slightly idealized Old West with an authentic feel and with people who touch the heart. His Huck Finn fits convincingly into this brooding saga. (May)