The Untold, Courtney Collins
The Untold, Courtney Collins
List: $17.50 | Sale: $12.25
Club: $8.75

The Untold

Author: Courtney Collins

Narrator: Courtney Collins

Unabridged: 6 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/29/2014


Synopsis

With shades of Water for Elephants and True Grit, a stunning debut novel set in the Australian outback about a female horse thief, her bid for freedom, and the two men trying to capture her.

It is 1921. In a mountain-locked valley, Jessie is on the run.
 Born wild and brave, by twenty-six she has already lived life as a circus rider, horse and cattle rustler, and convict. But on this fateful night she is just a woman wanting to survive though there is barely any life left in her.
 Two men crash through the bushland, desperate to claim the reward on her head: one her lover, the other the law.
 But as it has always been for Jessie, it is death, not a man, who is her closest pursuer and companion. And while all odds are stacked against her, there is one who will never give up on her—her own child, who awaits her.

About The Author

Courtney Collins lives on the Goulburn River in regional Victoria, Australia. The Untold is her first novel, and she is currently at work on her second novel.


Reviews

3,5. He acabado Un mal día para nacer con muy buen sabor de boca. Es de esos libros que se lee muy rápido, tanto por la prosa, como por la historia o incluso por la forma de contarla. La historia nos presentará a Jessie, una ladrona de caballos que después de pasar unos años en la cárcel, tendrá la......more

‘If the dirt could speak, whose story would it tell?’ This novel was inspired by the life of Elizabeth Jessie Hickman, a female bushranger born in 1890, who went bush in the 1920s after killing her third husband. This is Courtney Collins’s debut novel and re-imagines aspects of Jessie Hickman’s life.......more


Quotes

A female Cormac McCarthy*

“This extraordinary novel—propelled by the dark, rich talents of a truly brilliant writer—dazzles, staggers and amazes.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

"[A] page-turner... Jessie, the heroine of this tale set in 1920s Australia, sets her own compass. A horse thief and sometime circus performer, she's being pursued through the hills by her Aboriginal lover and a police sergeant. The chase will leave you breathless." —Good Housekeeping

"Collins's gripping debut novel is based on a legendary wild woman . . . A fast-paced, heart-wrenching story that never loses speed, this extraordinary first novel is not to be missed.” —Library Journal (starred review)

"The dead have tales to tell, if only we could hear them... Collins richly evokes a heartbreaking emotional terrain, setting it against the sparse, brutal landscape of the Australian Outback." —Kirkus Reviews

“A captivating, epic novel that never loses its heart to scope, The Untold is a surreal saga set in a rugged, unforgiving landscape. Courtney Collins paints a devastating portrait of long-shot love.” —Patrick DeWitt, author of the #1 International bestseller, The Sisters Brothers (short-listed for The Man Booker Prize)

*Library Journal


"Collins's debut offers a fictionalized account of real-life Jessie Hickman, a female bushranger and outlaw in 1020s Australia whose story as presented here ranges from the circus life to horse-stealing to imprisonment to forced marriage to fiery escape and endless pursuit, all told in extraordinary, toughly lyrical language. A female Cormac McCarthy? Get it.” —Library Journal

“This extraordinary novel—propelled by the dark, rich talents of a truly brilliant writer—dazzles, staggers and amazes.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

“A captivating, epic novel that never loses its heart to scope, The Untold is a surreal saga set in a rugged, unforgiving landscape. Courtney Collins paints a devastating portrait of long-shot love.” —Patrick DeWitt, author of the #1 International bestseller, The Sisters Brothers (short-listed for The Man Booker Prize)