After the massacre Hardy and Betty Sue were left with only a horse and a knife with which to face the long battle against the wilderness. A seven-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, stranded on the limitless prairie. They were up against starvation, marauding Indians, savage outlaws, and wild animals. They were mighty stubborn, but the odds were against them—and their luck was about to run out.
After the massacre Hardy and Betty Sue were left with only a horse and a knife with which to face the long battle against the wilderness. A seven-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, stranded on the limitless prairie. They were up against starvation, marauding Indians, savage outlaws, and wild animals. They were mighty stubborn, but the odds were against them--and their luck was about to run out.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From the Inside Flap
After the massacre Hardy and Betty Sue were left with only a horse and a knife with which to face the long battle against the wilderness. A seven-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, stranded on the limitless prairie. They were up against starvation, marauding Indians, savage outlaws, and wild animals. They were mighty stubborn, but the odds were against them--and their luck was about to run out.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
"I think of myself in the oral tradition--as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of a campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered--as a storyteller. A good storyteller."
It is doubtful that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L'Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally "walked the land my characters walk." His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L'Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.
Of French-Irish descent, Mr. L'Amour could trace his own in North America back to the early 1600s and follow their steady progression westward, "always on the frontier." As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family's frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.
Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L'Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, and miner, and was an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his "yondering" days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.
Mr. L'Amour "wanted to write almost from the time I could talk." After developing a widespread following for his many frontiers and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L'Amour published his first full length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.
The recipient of many great honor and awards, in 1983 Mr. L'Amour became the first novelist to ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life's work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.
Louis L'Amour died on June 10, 1988. His wife, Kathy, and their two children, Beau and Angelique, carry the L'Amour publishing tradition forward with new books written by the author during his lifetime to be published by Bantam.
When the kids are stranded,after the wagon train massacree,they have limited resources to sustain themselves,but...they do have the magnificent red stallion,who lives for the young boy...trailed by an indian brave plus ruthless outlaws,they make their way accross the vast,seemingly endless prairie...throw in a renegade bear and rapidly approaching cruel,bitter winter conditions,this story comes together in a"hurriedly turning the next page"climax....FIVE STARS+
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
You cannot put this books down. I try to forget it so I can read it again every few years. Not like L'Amour's other books, the shoot em up, good guy gets the girl. This one is different. Not that I have the most exalted taste, but I was an English major and now am a librarian, so I have read a few books...This is a winner. Anyone age 10 and up can read it and love it. Read it to kids a little younger than that.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
DOWN THE LONG HILLS won famed western writer Louis L'Amour the Golden Spur Award and it is a very special read. Many times misclassified as a book for children it is a book for all ages who enjoy the heroism of the West at its finest.
The main characters are two children and a horse who against all odds make their way though a winter storm because the young boy knows his father will be looking for him. Luck, craftiness, and observation give them the skills to follow their trail.
One of the best books to begin if you have just discovered the storytelling skill of Louis L'Amour.
Writing as a Small BusinessTravelersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County Novel
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews