Ive come to think that in times of crisis human beings dont have it in them to be rational The Yazee gang was riding down upon us six abreast We all ran outside and confirmed that fact The sensible thing would have been to run and hide -- but did we Not at all The narrator of Larry McMurtrys newest book is spunky Nellie Courtright twenty-two years old and already wrapping every man in the West around her little finger When she and her teenage brother Jackson are orphaned she sweet-talks the local sheriff into hiring Jackson as a deputy while she takes over the vacant job of town telegrapher When by pure blind luck Jackson shoots down the entire Yazee gang Nellie is quick to capitalize on his new notoriety by selling reviews to reporters It seems wherever Nellie is action is sure to happen from a love affair with Buffalo Bill to a ringside seat at the OK Corral gunfight Told with charm humor and an unparalleled zest for life Nellies story is the story of how the West was won.
