A Thousand Moons: A Novel

"Yes. It’s a follow-up to Days Without End , but I don’t think you need to have read Days Without End to read this—although you should. It’s set in 1870s Tennessee and is the story of a young Native American girl, Winona, who has been adopted by a couple of gay cowboys, Thomas McNulty and John Cole, who are responsible for slaughtering her entire tribe in the American Indian Wars. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter There are two mysteries in it: there’s a crime committed, which is central to the story, but there is also the love that Winona, now an adult, has for these two men who have bought her up as their own, and her loyalty towards them. But there is her dawning realization of who she is, and her status in America at the time, where she is not even considered human; there are no penalties for shooting Indians. Her life is really worthless. She’s bound together with these two men, who protect her to the best of their ability. And when something awful happens to her the two men waste no time in trying to avenge it. It’s very moving. Sebastian Barry is one of the most beautiful Irish writers, I think. His prose is really extraordinary. And the way he can put a sentence together, and the way he can inhabit these characters is extraordinary."