In 1832, court reporter ― and conman ― Douglas Fortescue publishes a poem of blood and depravity that brings him overnight fame within the effete London literary society. The more fey Douglas becomes, the more society adores him and the more he holds society in contempt. The possibility of a morals charge against Douglas finally leads his brother Jeremy to drag him to America.
In the same year, thousands of miles away, Cyrus Jenkyns ties a man to a tree, forcing his six-year-old son, Joshua, to kill the man. Among the man’s belongings, Joshua finds a book of Byron’s poems and forces a preacher to teach him to read. At the age of 14, he takes over the outlaw gang after his father is hanged. During one of their robberies, he steals a second book of poetry, which he reads every day.
The poet’s and the outlaw’s lives cross during a stagecoach robbery when Joshua, now 16, kidnaps Douglas in front of Jeremy and takes him into the Wild West. The remainder of the short novel describes Jeremy’s obsessive search for his brother and the growing love between Douglas and Joshua. The story culminates with a man trying in vain to rescue a brother who does not want to be rescued.
The spare prose of this short novel uses the language of almost two centuries ago and blends the comic and tragic in a zany camp approach. The German culture has long been fascinated with American cowboy life. Wunnicke has authentically depicted nineteenth-century mid-America, replete with sweat, stink, and head lice, showing the freedom of a time and place where men ruled their world. Critics have either loved or hated the book. We loved it. With surprises around each turn of the plot, this beautiful love story shows two totally opposite and very memorable characters who grow more and more alike throughout their relationship. Chosen as one of the GLBTRT Over the Rainbow Project Top Eleven for 2011, Missouri will no doubt become another classic like Brokeback Mountain.
Reviewed by, Larry Romans
Head, Government Information and Media Services
Vanderbilt University Libraries
And Nel Ward
Co-founder,
GLBTRT Over the Rainbow Project