Greg Matthews

The wisdom of stones

A sequel to Twain's classic describes the experiences of Huck Finn and Jim as they head for Sacramento and the Gold Rush of 1849

The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Siblings separated on an orphan train reunite years later to seek revenge in the lawless West in this “great novelist’s masterwork” (Stephen King). In 1869, the Dugan siblings board an orphan train in upstate New York. Adopted by different families at separate stops along the train’s westward journey, Clay, Zoe, and Drew vow to find one another as soon as they can, but tragic circumstances conspire against them. Clay avenges the brutal murder of his foster parents and becomes one of the most feared bounty hunters in the West. Raped by her new father, Zoe gives birth to a daughter whose vivid blue birthmark portends the gift of second sight. And Drew, abandoned in the desert by a religious fanatic, is rescued by renegade Apache brothers and falls in with a crowd of murderers, prostitutes, and bank robbers. When fate finally reunites the siblings, Zoe enlists Clay and Drew in a plot against a ruthless Colorado gold magnate bent on stealing her fortune. Decades spent practicing the art of survival have taught the Dugans that the odds are always stacked against them—but if they stopped to consider the odds, they would have been dead long ago. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as a “great page-turning, stay-up-late-into-the-night-saga” and ideal for fans of Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy, Power in the Blood takes readers on an epic journey into the dark heart of the American frontier.

Power in the Blood

Huckleberry Finn and his friend Jim set off for California during the Gold Rush and meet with adventures, and Huck must clear himself of a murder charge.

“The true sequel to Twain’s masterpiece.” —The Christian Science Monitor At the start of this exuberant adventure story, Huck Finn’s life is back to normal in St. Petersburg, Missouri: The Widow Douglas expects him to wear clean clothes and eat with a knife and fork, and Jim now gets paid two dollars a week for the same chores he did as a slave. But when tragedy strikes and Huck is framed for the murder of Judge Thatcher, the two old friends have no choice but to finally “light out for the Territory”—and straight into the chaos of the California Gold Rush. With tenacious lawman Bulldog Barrett in hot pursuit, Huck and Jim zigzag west, encountering a colorful cast of con artists, vixens, outlaws, and Indians along the way. Huck’s dastardly Pap even makes an appearance, rising from a watery grave to menace his son once again. When the adventurers visit a rowdy San Francisco theater, they find their greatest surprise yet: A popular playwright has dramatized their cross-country odyssey with Huck Finn as the dastardly villain and Tom Sawyer as the noble hero. A picaresque romp through the Old West and a heartfelt tribute to the greatest of American novels, The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is rip-roaring fun from first page to last.

Greg Matthews

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