Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

Okay, this 99-cent find was much more satisfying than the one I reviewed for ye socks last week.

It is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Cold Mountain, that was so amazingly brought to life on the screen by my muse Nicole Kidman and a handful of lesser stars.

Like Cold Mountain, this book centers on a love denied.

Fortunately, unlike Cold Mountain, in which the star-crossed lovers Inman and Ada are permanently denied when he is killed off in the final paragaraphs, Thirteen Moons has a series of touch-and-go encounters with no finality at all. I'll let ye socks judge which is more frustrating to readers.

Anyway, this book is basically a 90+ year reminiscence of an old man named Will Cooper who was apprenticed to a frontier trading post as a boy. He was sent to the frontier of the Cherokee nation with only a horse, key, and a map, and ended up accumulating a lot more--and not just material stuff.

Frazier would have you believe he accomplished all this mainly as a result of his adoption by an old chief named Bear. But, you decide for yourselves.

It is only by reading the endnotes that one will discover the whole story is based on a real fellow named William H. Thomas. Charles Frazier actually wrote a grad school paper about him. So, Thirteen Moons is nothing more than a piece of fictionalized history. But, that's ok. It was still a good read.

Let me know if you want to borrow my copy, 'cause it's just gathering dust around here!