After numerous essays, short stories and the heralded memoir A Hole in the Sky, William Kittredge gives us a debut novel that ratifies his standing as a leading writer of the American West.

Rossie Benasco’s horseback existence begins at age 15 and culminates in a thousand-mile drive of more than 200 head of horses through the Rockies into Calgary. It’s a journey that leads him, ultimately, to Eliza Stevenson and a passion so powerful, his previously unfocused life gains clarity and purpose. From the settlers, cowboys, and gamblers who opened up this country to the landholders and politicians who ran it, this is an epic tale of love and wide open spaces that stretches over the grand canvas of the twentieth-century West. “Startling beautiful. . . . So seductive you'll want to strap on spurs and light out for the territory.”—The Washington Post Book World“Powerful. . . . Reminiscent of Larry McMurtry's classic Lonesome Dove. . . . Rich with vivid descriptions of the West.”—The Toronto Globe and Mail“Kittredge is a first-rate thinker, gracefully slipping D.H. Lawrence, Mike Royko and an homage to Norman Maclean into The Willow Field. . . .This is a book that many will cherish.”—The Plain Dealer“Beautifully composed. . . . Kittredge . . . has become a worthy successor to A. B. Guthrie and ‘The Great Montana Novel.’”—San Francisco Chronicle