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Much has been written about life on the desolate southwest Texas prairie called the “high lonesome.” Cosby’s lively novella of the same name is a biographical coming-of-age tale based on his family history, including some classic Western feuds over cattle and territory, made fresh by his narrative voice. Cosby’s strong background with people and words, his perspective as an international traveler, and his deep roots in the Texas landscape make him well-equipped to lyrically reveal the nuances of the Lone Star State’s triumphs and tragedies from the viewpoints of saints and sinners and anyone in between.
Teenager and aspiring journalist Crawford Cashion learns the finer points of what manhood is all about as his family ekes out a living in this unpredictable and unforgiving Texas landscape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During that era of turbulent range wars between family homesteaders and cattle barons, the Cashion family’s outfit has minor complaints and setbacks due to the deprivations of the Butcher ranch's ‘Rafter B’ cowboys, who cut fences, burn barns, and steal or kill the smaller family herds. The confrontations remain fairly even for a time until Cashion’s Uncle Bob Swank enlists Craw as his “Segundo” or second-in-command. The pair round up the Craw’s family ‘Lone S’ herd during a routine that turns from annoyance to tragedy when Rafter B’s wagon boss makes one too many power plays, and Craw’s beloved uncle ends up shot in the gut.
Readers will love the colorful Western terminology and the author’s word-wrangling skills in bringing the Texas high plains setting and its people to life. Probably the only problem anyone will have with this book is that this tale is much too short and sweet. Readers will undoubtedly be clamoring for a sequel.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review