Synopsis
Cecil Roop is a young man who has left his wife and children to head out to the Western frontier in the 1880s. He is in search of a grizzly cub to bring back East to show on the vaudeville circuit, but along the way becomes obsessed with Big Foot legends, and his focus shifts to the hunt for the mythical creature. On his quest he picks up eccentric companions: Sutton, a circus performer in search of gold; Roy, a one-armed, toothless gold hunter; Margaret, an Indian woman; and a pack of loyal dogs. Full of high adventure, grizzly attacks, and ambushes, and set against the backdrop of the stupendous natural wonders of the West at the turn of the century, this novel is at once a picaresque adventure and the exuberant story of an unprecedented quest.
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From Publishers Weekly
Hoagland's essays, travel books and novels prove him to be perhaps the finest nature writer in America. His latest novel, an inventive, picaresque romp through the American wilderness around the turn of the century, features the adventures of three charmingly eccentric characters as they make their way from the Dakota plains to the Rockies. They are Cecil, who is in search of a grizzly bear cub to train fora vaudeville act; Charley, a cagey old trapper looking for gold; and Sutton, whose specialized vocation involves jumping from towers into watertubs. On their way they pick up a couple of Indian women and encounter a multitude of wild animals, including bears, wolves, buffalo and moose, not to mention the occasional white man almost equally wild, and finally (or is it a hallucination?) a Bigfoot that makes Cecil forget about catching a bear cub. It's an entertaining tale, rich to bursting with descriptions of wildlife as vivid and authentic as an Audubon painting. First serial rights to Esquire.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This is not a fast-paced Western but a deliberately written account of a trek through the mountains of the West with time taken to appreciate the beauties of nature and to observe the wildlife. Cecil Roop goes west in search of a young grizzly to train for vaudeville. With him is Sutton, a skilled high diver, who seeks gold. As they proceed they acquire companions, human and animal, most of whom fall victim to the dangers of the wild. The characters are fascinating, the writing is excellent. A novel for readers who enjoy nature, with all its beauties and hazards, this will please Hoagland's many fans. Sister Avila, Acad . of the Holy Angels, Minneapolis
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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