An epic that spans a crucial period of American westward expansion, Not Between Brothers is the bloody and gripping tale of the birth of the Lone Star State. Comprising a large cast of characters that includes memorable historical figures such as Stephen Austin and Sam Houston, the novel unfolds through the eyes and experience of Remy Fuqua, an orphan whose understanding of his fellow man is almost as great as his predilection for battle and his fierce national pride. When he marries a well-born Tejana, Beatriz Amarante de la Cruz, Fuqua is tempted to abandon the world he comes from until a tragic loss catapults him straight to the front lines in the battle for Texan independence-the landmark battle of San Jacinto.
Not Between Brothers is also the story of the fearless Comanche warrior Kills White Bear, whose distrust of the white man turns to enmity when a virulent smallpox plague brought by white traders wipes out his family and decimates his people. His vendetta eventually and inexorably makes Remy his greatest enemy. As the two men stalk each other across the Texas prairie, their struggle pits nation against nation, husband against wife and, unforgettably, brother against brother.
Spanning three decades in the early 19th century that saw the birth and early years of the Independent Republic of Texas, this well crafted, gripping first novel portrays three cultures-Mexican, white immigrant and Comanche-in bloody collision. In 1826, lured by the promise of land and freedom, ambitious young Louisianian Remy Fuqua joins the tide of white immigration to Texas, where the Mexicans and Comanches already have strong roots. Remy's marriage to Beatrice, daughter of a wealthy Mexican family, brings both joy and pain, for he must give up his Anglo life. During a Comanche raid, Beatrice and their three children are captured by Kills White Bear, a brutal war chief. Although Remy rescues his wife and daughter, he loses both sons; one is killed, the other is kept by Kills White Bear and raised as his own child. Remy's life is further shaken when Beatrice bears the Comanche chief's son. Through the years, Remy fights alongside Sam Houston for Texan independence, rides with the new Texas Rangers against the Comanche and struggles to keep his family together. Texas's secession from the Union in 1861 finally forces Remy to flee west, into a dramatic confrontation with Kills White Bear, the two sons they claim in common and Beatrice. Wilkinson is a gifted storyteller who brings Texas history to life with a tale rich in adventure and high emotions. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
David Marion Wilkinson is a fifth-generation native of Arkansas, born in Malvern, Hot Springs County, to a Presbyterian minister and his wife in 1957. His struggling family relocated to Houston, where he attended Sharpstown High School and worked every afternoon and weekends for an aging, charismatic, alcoholic, and world-weary golf pro and raconteur who told him wonderful stories of life in East Texas, serving as a bomber pilot during WWII, and his experiences on the professional tour in the era stretching from Byron Nelson to Ben Hogan and Harvey Pennick. David was also mentored by two of his high school English teachers, Margaret Stork and Freda Katz--both of whom encouraged him to write.
Within days of his 18th birthday, David began classes at the University of Texas at Austin, roughnecking offshore in Texas and Louisiana in order to pay for his college expenses. He earned a degree in English literature (BA, 1980) with a creative writing concentration, which first introduced him to classic and modern fiction. His undergraduate years also placed him in close proximity to working writers like Michael Mewshaw, David Ohle, Laura Furman, Zulikar Ghose, and Don Graham, among others. 1970s Austin was also home to many of the best Texas writers of the time--like Jan Reid, Edwin "Bud" Shrake, Stephen Harrigan, Gary Cartwright, Shelby Hearon, Billy Lee Brammer, and the ghost of J. Frank Dobie to name only a few. All of these energies combined to attract David's attention, fan the flames of his own ambition, and focus his mind and spirit on the goal of becoming a novelist. By graduation, he knew he wanted to be a writer.
After college graduation, David accepted an assignment in the oil fields of the North Sea and Saudi Arabia--work that took him to remote and hostile locations throughout the world. Those experiences helped to mature him, but, he later said, also cut him off from his middle-class trajectory and prepared him for the isolation of life as a struggling novelist. While overseas, he also read voratiously for the first time in his life, both British and American and even middle-eastern writers, one book after another. This experience would later prove invaluable. As anyone familiar with Larry McMurtry's non-fiction work can attest, one must first hunger to read before they hunger to write. For too long, David had his prerequisites upside down--and the countless idle hours of offshore drilling and long, lonely commutes on boats, trains, and airplanes to Godforsaken places, many not unlike his grandparent's farm in Arkansas, corrected this deficiency.
At the age of 25, David began to write seriously if not professionally. He returned from Saudi Arabia to Austin at age 27, where he married a ballet dancer turned lawyer, and continued to write in conjuction with working a wide variety of horrendous occupations.
Over the next twelve years David wrote four failed novels, racking up well over 300 publisher and literary agent rejections which papered the walls of his garage office and much of the house next door (absent owners), finally publishing his fifth, NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS, in 1996. BROTHERS received award-distinction, was optioned to NBC Studios/Tig Productions for a television mini-series (three years in development before the project was abandoned), and sold 100,000 copies. The 15th Annivesary edition of the book will be released in Spring 2010. The REVIEW OF TEXAS BOOKS said NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS was "simply the best historical novel published about Texas in over a decade."
David went on to publish THE EMPTY QUARTER (contemporary mainstream, 1998), OBLIVION'S ALTAR (historical, 2002), ONE RANGER (with H. Joaquin Jackson, biography/memoir, 2005). He is currently at work on an historical novel, based on true events, set in 1950s West Texas.
David's work has earned two Spur Awards (and been a finalist for that award twice more), the Violet Crown Award (by Barnes & Nobel and the Writers League of Texas), and was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award (which says something about any Texas writer). Three of his four books are either now or have been optioned for feature films or television mini-series. Long interested in film, the author adapted THE EMPTY QUARTER for the screen with actor/producer Todd Allen (and screenwriter Bonnie Orr), and co-wrote the script adapted from OBLIVON'S ALTAR (also with Bonnie Orr). Emmy-award-winning screenwriter turned novelist Alan Brennert (www.alanbrennert.com) adapted NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS for NBC, with David modestly consulting.
David is proud of his two sons, Bratton Dean Wilkinson, now a twenty-year-old sophomore (film school) at the University of Texas; and William Tate Wilkinson, a junior basketball player and One-Act performer at Alpine High in the Big Bend of Texas. After living in Alpine and Dallas for five years, David recently returned home to Austin, where he married and settled back down to write. He lives quietly with his writer wife, Martha Strain, a native of San Angelo, Texas, who also attended the University of Texas and graduated with an English degree. Martha's been a successful home builder and is still active in interior decorating, with a passion for fine art and great books, as well as a high tolerance of high-maintenance people. Makes it all work.
For more information about David or his body of work, please access his website: www.david-marion-wilkinson.com.
Quite simply, one of the finest novels I have ever read. Wilkinson is a gifted storyteller. From the opening scene, I was completely caught up and it never let me go. I found myself looking for excuses to sneak away and read it. I am eagerly awaiting Wilkinson's next book.
Though the characters of Remy and Kills White Bear are fictional, the events in Texas that propel them are real. One can see the faults and the goodness in all the characters. Wilkinson is deft at explaining how the collision of cultures (Anglo, Mexican, and Commanche) created what we now know as Texas. As much as it's an in-your-face lesson in history, it is an equally moving, epic love story that plays out across the plains. I will never look at Texas the same way again but, make no mistake, this book is bigger than Texas. It quite beatifully says something about us all.
I have recommended "Not Between Brothers" many times, and will continue to do so. So far, it has never disappointed.
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This review is from: Not Between Brothers (Hardcover)
Having received this book as a gift several years ago, I am now sorry it took me so long to get around to reading it. I assure you that once you start reading Not Between Brothers, you will find it hard to put down.
Others have rehashed the story in their reviews to some degree or another, so I'll try not to do that here. Author Wilkinson does an excellent job developing both the characters and his story. There's a surprise at nearly every turn, although the reader somehow knows that chief protagonist Remy Fuqua is going to survive.
This is not just a story of a titanic clash of cultures, it is a story of hard men and women in a harsh land, where nearly every day brings an often life-threatening challenge. It is written in an heroic fashion that reminds me sometimes of Michener and sometimes of Fraser (of the Flashman series), but nearly always in a way that keeps the reader wondering what's coming next. Wilkinson writes a balanced story with a great understanding of the points of view of all the cultures that once claimed Texas as theirs.
Those who know the parts of Texas where this story takes place will almost literally be able to visualize it, to taste it and to smell it. Those who don't know Texas will come away with a pretty good picture of its geography and climate. And everyone will come away with a greater knowledge of the forces that shaped Texas and made it what it is today.
This is said to be Wilkinson's first novel and he's done a heck of a job researching and writing it. His command of the language is impressive as is his attention to detail. I found only one major factual error about a third of the way through probably missed in the proofreading( see if you can find it too). There are also a couple of times where I was able to guess why a particular incident occurs ahead of it being explained, but most of the time the reader is left in breathless anticipation of what's to come.
Despite a few missteps and a weak final chapter after the dramatic and surprising climax, my overall impression of Not Between Brothers is that I have just read an epic blockbuster. A blurb on the cover claims that it was a finalist for the Spur Award for best novel of the West in 1996. Well, if some other book beat this one, I'll have to read it and see why, because Not Between Brothers is one of the finest books about Texas or the West I have read in years!
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David Marion Wilkinson's "Not Between Brothers" is at once absorbing and at the same time fascinating. This is a thorough story of Texas, or rather, a story of a slice of Texas. It is done with precision, depth, and a dedication to its purpose.
Additionally, Mr. Wilkinson does not try to be a "chauvinistic Texan" and paint only the "boasts" that this state is sometimes known for. His intriguing characters come to us, warts and all,and we are the better for it. The author does not seem to want to give us a story of a state through rose colored glasses; he seems intent upon actually telling a story, one that is believable, sensitive, viable--one that will stay with us.
He has succeeded. To say I enjoyed this book is an understatement. I look forward to his continued writings, whether it's about Texas or not!
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