Book Review: News of The World

In News of The World, Can Two Lonely Survivors Help Each Other?

News of the World by Paulette Jiles is set just after the Civil War during a tumultuous period in the United States of America before the re-construction attempt when much of the South is the epitome of the wild, wild west.

Captain Kidd is an upper middle-aged former soldier and widower who travels through Texas delivering news to audiences. Johanna is a ten-year-old girl kidnapped four years earlier by Kiowa Indians, now rescued by the US Army who hires Captain Kidd to return her to the family she has left in San Antonio.

While traveling through Texas together, Captain Kidd and Johanna learn from and about each other through multiple heart-pounding incidents. In addition, they form an unexpected bond that will be hard to break. Will the two survive their treacherous journey together? And if they do, will they be able to go on without each other when they reach Johanna’s relatives?

Discover these answers and more in this wonderfully written and quite touching historical read.

History Can Teach Us

We love the study of history, especially when combined with fantastic storytelling like News of The World. Learning more about the past can often show us that events repeat over time, as echoes occur with fashions. Of course, events and styles don’t come back precisely in the same way. But they almost always do reappear at some point, whether we like it or not.

News of The World, The More We Learn

This novel offers readers a view of a country where almost everyone is a threat. In a way, our current state of social media could be comparable, as can our political environment. But the more we as humans read and learn about the history and the culture of others—what they look like, how they talk, and how they live or used to—the more we learn empathy and have the capacity to care about people and the world around us.

A movie of this book Tom Hanks came out in December 2020.

News of The World Synopsis:

In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people. Through this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction, the author of Enemy Women explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.

In Wichita Falls, the army offers a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to San Antonio’s relatives. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. Army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain prove difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.

Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.

Author Bio:

Paulette Jiles is a poet and memoirist. She is the author of Cousins, a memoir, and the bestselling novels Enemy Women and Stormy Weather. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.

News of The World FAQ

Image at top of this feature is by Madalyne Staab on Unsplash

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