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A Good Place
Because a journey can be much more than just miles. The Wayfaring Stranger is a historical love story detailing the intertwining of the lives of two teenagers, Joseph Moore and Eliza Clark. Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the story begins with Joseph escaping from Ireland as a stowaway on a ship. At this same time, Eliza lives in the piney woods of western Louisiana in an area called No Man s Land. In alternating chapters, we learn about Eliza s life among her mysterious and isolated clan called Ten Milers as well as follow Joseph s winding journey through New Orleans and eventually into No Man s Land. Joseph is drawn toward this area because of the opportunities for freedom and land ownership things unavailable to him in Ireland. The Wayfaring Stranger chronicles Joseph s journey from being bitter to becoming better. Joseph and Eliza s lives bisect at a crucial time in the history of this area as a timber company seeks to drive out the isolated settlers. Joseph s status as an outsider tests their developing relationship and hard choices must be made. The culmination of this story features the final conflict testing this relationship. The Wayfaring Stranger also examines the juxtaposition of the lives and attitudes of the two protagonists. This contrasting and comparison of Ireland and pioneer Louisiana is woven throughout this page-turning book. Every age from teenagers on will enjoy a family-themed book.
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 9, 2023
An unusual combination of characters--a young man who fled from Ireland ends up with a bunch of suspicious Redbones in the piney woods of Louisiana where outsiders are not welcome. There's trouble with a big timber company, a dead man with gold coins, the promise of land a plenty, a terrible snakebite, and even a fire.
June 4, 2017
This was a great read! Very smooth and very easy to wander off into the narrative and feel Louisiana. Curt is an excellent writer with a real passion for his characters and locations.
January 5, 2020
Life lessons learned from all of Curt Iles' books.
June 3, 2022
A great adventure story with compelling characters. The fact that it is historical fiction makes it especially interesting to us who have grown up here in Louisiana.
July 16, 2015
Mysterious Book Report No.169
by John Dwaine McKenna
It’s hard, in this time of generally gracious living, to imagine the privation, fear and destitution that characterized the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the opening chapters of Wayfaring Stranger, (Simon & Shuster, $27.99, 434 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-1079-2) by James Lee Burke manages to do it in a near-perfect manner that sets the stage for the rest of the novel in an orderly and logical progression of events. Growing up on his grandfather’s ranch in east Texas, sixteen year-old Weldon Avery Holland and his grandfather, a retired tough-as-nails Texas Ranger named Hack, have a chance encounter with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who’ve just held up a bank. As the bandits are leaving, Weldon shoots at their stolen car, putting a bullet hole through the back of it. That random event will influence him throughout the rest of his novel, set in the heart of the east-Texas-west-Louisiana oil patch. That’s where Weldon, his wife Rosita Lowenstein—the woman he rescued from a World War Two Nazi death camp—and his business partner Herschel Pine—who survived the Battle of the Bulge with Weldon—are fighting to survive the evil operators of big oil, with big money and big ambition, who are using all their power and resources to buy the small, but successful and rapidly growing, Dixie Belle Pipeline Company . . . or drive it into bankruptcy.
Wayfaring Stranger is a novel that defies genre. It’s a little bit crime fiction, a bit family saga and a bit literary in nature with a large, diverse cast of interesting characters. Call it what you will, it’s Burke at his best, and one that his legions of fans will revel in. It’s a departure from his usual work that sparkles with all the lyrical prose and descriptive phrases we’ve come to expect from this master of American Literature, and a whole new direction that I, personally, (an avid reader of every new James Lee Burke offering since The Lost, Get Back Boogie,) think is one of his best ever!
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by John Dwaine McKenna
It’s hard, in this time of generally gracious living, to imagine the privation, fear and destitution that characterized the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the opening chapters of Wayfaring Stranger, (Simon & Shuster, $27.99, 434 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-1079-2) by James Lee Burke manages to do it in a near-perfect manner that sets the stage for the rest of the novel in an orderly and logical progression of events. Growing up on his grandfather’s ranch in east Texas, sixteen year-old Weldon Avery Holland and his grandfather, a retired tough-as-nails Texas Ranger named Hack, have a chance encounter with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who’ve just held up a bank. As the bandits are leaving, Weldon shoots at their stolen car, putting a bullet hole through the back of it. That random event will influence him throughout the rest of his novel, set in the heart of the east-Texas-west-Louisiana oil patch. That’s where Weldon, his wife Rosita Lowenstein—the woman he rescued from a World War Two Nazi death camp—and his business partner Herschel Pine—who survived the Battle of the Bulge with Weldon—are fighting to survive the evil operators of big oil, with big money and big ambition, who are using all their power and resources to buy the small, but successful and rapidly growing, Dixie Belle Pipeline Company . . . or drive it into bankruptcy.
Wayfaring Stranger is a novel that defies genre. It’s a little bit crime fiction, a bit family saga and a bit literary in nature with a large, diverse cast of interesting characters. Call it what you will, it’s Burke at his best, and one that his legions of fans will revel in. It’s a departure from his usual work that sparkles with all the lyrical prose and descriptive phrases we’ve come to expect from this master of American Literature, and a whole new direction that I, personally, (an avid reader of every new James Lee Burke offering since The Lost, Get Back Boogie,) think is one of his best ever!
Like the review? The greatest compliment you can give is to share it with others on Facebook and follow us on Goodreads.
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September 17, 2013
This is a historical fiction novel set in the Piney Woods of Louisiana in the mid 1800's. It is also a Christian novel and love story of the author's great-great-great grandparents. Joseph Moore immigrated from Ireland after hard times there and found adventure, freedom, and finally acceptance in the "No Man's Land" of the "Redbone" (mixed heritage Indian descendants" in Louisiana. The characters are "salt-of-the-earth" type with a few land and timber exploitation villians thrown in. An easy and "sweet" read.
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December 24, 2009If you are a Curt Iles fan, you will truly enjoy this, his first novel. It brings two cultures together as a young Irishman who immigrated to this country finds his way to Louisiana and becomes a part of the Redbones of the 10 Miles area of Louisiana -- it's a great book and you will find yourself getting emotionally involved in the lives of all the characters
April 17, 2017
I received this book from a family member who knew how much I loved books. This wasn't usually my genre, but being that they went through all of the trouble to get it autographed, I had to read it.
Let me just say that this book exceeded any and all expectations!
His story had all of the drama and mystery that drives my soul! His character development is amazingly thought out! I highly recommend this book!
Let me just say that this book exceeded any and all expectations!
His story had all of the drama and mystery that drives my soul! His character development is amazingly thought out! I highly recommend this book!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews