Tom is a slightly built 12 year old, on the road with his salesman father, who has given up door to door spectacle selling for the touting of Samuel Colt's new revolver in the 1830s of Eastern America. Tom's mother is already dead of the pox, and he's only too pleased to accompany his father on an exciting journey. But as Tom says - "I, to this day, hold only one truth; if a man chooses to carry a gun he will get shot. My father agreed to carry twelve".
The cover will be clear by the time you have finished this short, poignant read. I liked it a lot (the cover and the read). This is the author's first novel, and the cover says it will enthral fans of Cold Mountain and True Grit - however, I am not sure at what market this is aimed at, as I took it to be a YA read, which I feel it most definitely is; as an older reader I enjoyed it immensly, cheering twelve year old Tom Walker on and hoping that he could get home without death catching his coat tails. I certainly felt that if you had read Cold Mountain and picked this up after reading the back cover you might be disappointed, as the print is large, the book is short (200+ pages), and is certainly a quick read. However, like True Grit, it has a larger than life character in Henry Stands; who this reader loved nearly on first appearance.
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