Winds Of Morning

WINDS OF MORNING

By H.L. Davis

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1953

 

Date Read: December 2, 2021

 

First of all, this book caught my attention from the first page because one of the main characters is named Busick, which is the original version of my last name. But I digress…

 

Busick, a foreman for a wealthy landowner who manages the more unsavory projects, accidentally shoots and kills Piute Charlie, a well-known Indian on the frontier. This killing launches a cascade of misadventures for young lawman Amos Clarke. The arrest of Busick forces Clarke to move a herd of wild horses that were in Busick’s possession. Almost immediately he meets up with Pop Hendricks, a salty horse herder who is skilled in all the old ways of the frontier.

 

Along the way, they resolve a murder of a wealthy landowner, herd the horses across the frontier, keep their young Mexican hand from being arrested and help Busick’s young daughter. One situation leads to the next in a series of plot twists.

 

Winds Of Morning, though, is really about the beauty and history of the Oregon wilderness just as it was becoming settled. Hendricks delivers history and old-time ways of surviving the harsh winters and various obstacles than any horse herder or rancher must endure. And just when some of this becomes tedious, there’s a little satisfying love interest between Clarke and Busick’s daughter, Calanthe.

 

Overall, a really great read but it will never overshadow his Pulitzer winning Honey In The Horn.

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