News of the World

Paulette Jiles

In 1870 Texas, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a solitary widower who travels the frontier delivering news to eager audiences, accepts a seemingly simple task: escort a young orphan girl to her relatives in San Antonio for fifty gold pieces. But Johanna is no ordinary child—raised by Kiowa raiders after they killed her family, she has forgotten English, rejected civilization, and views the captain as just another captor. As they journey 400 miles through dangerous, unsettled territory, these two lonely survivors forge an unexpected bond that becomes their lifeline in an unforgiving landscape. Yet their arrival in San Antonio brings not reunion but heartbreak, forcing the honorable captain to confront an impossible choice between duty and conscience. Paulette Jiles crafts a morally complex and exquisitely rendered tale of family, responsibility, and the transformative power of human connection in the aftermath of violence and loss.