Bonner, Cindy
Author: Cindy Bonner
Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition
Retail: No current price for the original hard cover.
ISBN: 978-0945575955
Copyright: October 1992
Pages: 336
Image 2 is the Mass Market Paperback
Author: Cindy Bonner
Publisher: Onyx; Reprint edition
Retail: No current price
ISBN: 978-0451404398
Copyright: February 1994
Pages: 336
Lily DeLony abandons her industrious, religious, and upright life to follow her love, Marion "Shot" Berry, a young outlaw, a decision that has fateful repercussions for her entire family. A first novel.
Personal History of the Book:
The McDade Texas feud was of interest to me.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Loosely based on historical events and possessing a simple, frontier-legend plot--farmer's daughter and dashing outlaw fall for each other--this sensitive, winning western a la Larry McMurtry might easily attract fans outside its genre. The year is 1883. The town is McDade, Tex. Narrator Lily Delony, 15, can't stop thinking about 18-year-old Marion Beatty, kid brother of three notorious ruffians known as "the Beatty gang." Marion begs Lily, "Don't judge me by them over there"--meaning his robbing, murdering siblings--and she trusts him, risking her reputation to sneak out with him at night. When McDade's citizens organize a posse to rid themselves once and for all of the Beatty gang, Lily is torn between loyalty to her respectable family and love for her gun-totin' Romeo. First novelist Bonner credibly conveys her heroine's sincerity, bravery and naivete as well as rugged Marion's charming-yet-dangerous persona. Even readers who ordinarily shun shoot-'em-up, rough-and-ready novels will sympathize with the lovers and become caught up in this exciting story.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-- In the small Texas town of McDade, young girls are expected to help with farm work, cook for the family, watch the children, and stay away from disreputable men. But wham, bam, boom! Lily DeLony, oldest child of a widowed father, falls smack-dab, head-over-heels in love with Marion Beatty, of the notorious Beatty brothers, ignoring the very suitable, but very boring, college student Daniel O'Barr. Texas of 1883 is reenacted in this first novel, from scenes of hardworking, church-going families who labor over their crops and try to set aside a little money to those like the Beattys, who earn their money by robbing others and spending it on drink and women. ``Why'd I have to be the one to see the good in him . . . ?'' Lily asks. As she comes to know him better, she realizes he has played an important role in the Beatty gang and his nickname of ``Shot'' was not earned by ineptness. The moral dilemma of right and wrong, good and bad reoccurs to Lily. Is Marion bad because he's robbed a store? Isn't he also good because he loves her, offering her the first fun and happiness she's ever had? YAs will understand exactly why Lily leaves her family for the uncertain life on the lam with the sweet-talking Marion in this romance based on a true incident. --Pam Spencer, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
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