Westward the Tide

by Louis L'Amour

Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author’s more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives.

Matt Bardoul was a good man to have as a friend and a bad one to make trouble with. He was also a single-minded drifter—until he met his match in an outspoken beauty named Jacquine Coyle. She was headed into the Bighorn Mountains with her father and an expedition in search of gold. After Matt signs on to join them, he discovers that there is a group of outlaws in the party—gunfighters and thieves that Matt wouldn’t trust for a minute. At first it’s unclear what they are planning, but before long Matt realizes that he’s the only man standing between innocent people and a brutal conspiracy of greed, lust, and cold-blooded murder.

In Louis L’Amour’s Lost  Volumes 1 and 2, Beau L’Amour takes the reader on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. L’Amour’s never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, faithfully completed for this program, is a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas.

Additionally, many beloved classics are being rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions of readers have come to know and cherish.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Classics, Audiobook, Novels

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 1976

About the author

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction (The Walking Drum), science fiction (The Haunted Mesa), non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never stop reading Louis L’Amour. This particular one is my favorite and I honest to god cannot pinpoint why, but I suggest you take my word for it and read it. The men are rugged-don’t-touch-a-woman-gun-slinging kind of men who are generally covered in dirt and get shot like once a book, and I am not upset about any of it. I would die for Matt in this book and I love that he would die for Jaquine. I also love that Louis L’Amour never turns his westerns into straight up romances, and although there is usually a theme of love, there is also blood, loyalty, family, horses and a lot of shitty coffee being drunk over a camp fire.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical western. There are good guys and bad guys. There are Indians. It's a wagon train taking supplies. Lots of shooting. Much of the action in this one occurs in the Big Horn Mountains. All's well that ends well. I'm not a fan of the genre, but at least L'Amour is readable and reads quickly, making it less painful to someone who doesn't like the genre.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Westward the Tide has the distinction of being Louis L’Amour’s first full-length novel. Everything he wrote previous was published as short stories or serials in magazines. And, oddly, it was released in the UK first and didn’t publish in the US until 1977. Traversing parts of the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming of the 1870’s, this latest Lost Treasures Audio western brought a wagon train and gold prospecting adventure with a rugged gunfighting hero, intrepid heroine, and lots of gutsy skirmishes to be won along the trail.

Matt Bardoul took one look at Jacquine Coyle and he was well and truly hooked. So, when he arrives in Deadwood and learns from an old mountain man friend that her father is one of the partners heading up a secret gold hunting expedition into the Bighorn Mountains, he deals himself in. The group of wagons include a motley crew of hard-bitten pioneer types, old buffalo hunters and explorers, cowboys, prospectors, and, oh yes, a pack of outlaws with their own agenda for the trip. Matt senses trouble as do a few others, but what form it takes isn’t revealed until the wagon train is well along on the road and out of sight of any town or fort in rugged Sioux and Cheyenne country fresh after the Little Big Horn battle, Fetterman Fight, and other encounters when two ways of life clashed.

As usual, I appreciate L’Amour’s vivid description of the location, the historical backdrop, the colorful and diverse characters, and the gritty adventure full of gun fights, wilderness survival, bare-knuckle boxing, and even some intrigue. There were a couple times when I felt lag in the story- mostly in the first half, but it didn’t take long to pick up the pace again. The romance was backburner, but a sweet element weaving through the rest that culminates in the usual exciting blockbuster climax fight.

Robert Petkoff was a familiar voice who did a bang up job voicing the characters particularly Matt Bardoul and catching the tone of the writing particularly when it contrasted thoughtful to an intense action scene. Also good and familiar were the afterward Lost Treasure extra narrators Jason Culp and Dan John Miller.

Speaking of the extras, this included Beau L’Amour talking about the story behind the novel and that time period in Louis L’Amour’s life. This book nearly disappeared twice before it could be published in the US.

All in all, I love these new Lost Treasures editions and particularly on audio. Westward the Tide was another western winner for me.

I rec’d an audio copy from Penguin Random House Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.


My full review will post at Books of My Heart on Jan 15th.

[Ken Schloman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is L'Amour's first novel that was not serialized in western pulps. Actually it was published in England and not published in the US until 1976. The author blended historical figures and events into his plot and story line very well although a few timelines of historical characters are out of line. Well written and the descriptive detail of the Big Horn area is excellent. This was a great start for a beloved western writer. If you like westerns this one should be on your reading list

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Bardoul joins Jacquine Coyle and her father on a gold hunting expedition. Within the group is a band of outlaws with hidden motives including murder. As usually for L'Amour, this is a well crafted story with realistic places.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an exciting and action-packed adventure.

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good. Note to self: reread this one.

[Katrina Swartzentruber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Louis L’Amour I’ve read so far. The philosophical, tenacious gunman was endearing to me, despite his thinking that you should just tell a woman you are going to marry her instead of asking her (he was joking…right?). I will reread this one for sure.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite L'Amour book. It has great elements and the basic concept is solid. A group of men and women set out to a gold dig in Dakota Territory in strength and well-supplied but some of the men along have other plans, and seem to be gathering a lot of known criminals and bad men with suspiciously light and ill-supplied wagons along.

The problem is that about eight times in the book comes a crisis where things should come to a head, and the story illogically puts it off just because it would happen too soon for the length L'Amour wanted, and because it would not have his signature one hero alone saving the day, he'd have too much support. And elements and events were completely forgotten, such as when the hero calls for someone to come visit his wagon and then nothing comes of it, as if L'Amour got distracted and forgot it was supposed to take place.

There are a lot of long speeches about ecology and how the white man is destroying the wilderness, with an almost Randian speech by an Indian who shows up apparently just to make the speech for several pages worth of ranting about white people.

Not his finest work.

[James Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a quick read. I enjoyed it enough, but it wasn’t one of my favorite L’Amour books. There were a lot of characters to keep up with, and the main character wasn’t developed very well. I much prefer the Sackett series.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good premise of a man with a past (undeserved stain on his Army reputation) and a habit of tangling with big opposition. Somewhat disjointed and choppy writing, especially the lack of clear segue into a diatribe on the white man by an old Native American. (Not a bad summary, and a stinging ‘karma will get you in the end, greedy barstids’ message - it just didn’t fit that old guy wanders out of nowhere to tell off group of men around a campfire and then -no more mention of him, like he got Great Spirit-ed away from the fire as a reward for eloquence or something?)

Really not impressed with the ‘love at first sight’ rendering. Johnny Cash could teach Matt Bardoul about how to handle a Ring of Fire, but I bet Matt would patiently listen to half the advice and….walk on.

Also not impressed with the bad guy just having to swallow resistance point upon resistance point, eyes flaming uselessly - so it does make sense that he takes revenge swiftly and suddenly.

Super unimpressed with the ‘all turned against me’ rumor routine of the named outlaw mistaken for Matt, but I suppose if you’ve got your life savings tied up in a wagon and you’re miles from any officials’ presence….you panic and turn against the person you’ve supported all along? Nope, still doesn’t make sense.

Oh well. Good plot, good action, happy with the resolution.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, let me say that I really enjoyed this book. The setting is great. Outlaws, the Sioux, fugitives, a U.S. Marshal, a wagon train, the prairie, frontier Army forts, the Bighorn Mountains - what's not to like if you're interested in the Old West as I am? The plot is also very compelling. It's a classic "good guy with a gun" story, but with intrigue, mystery, and some suspense mixed in. If I were rating this solely off of how much I enjoyed it, I would give it 4 stars. I'll certainly be reading more L'Amour after this.

With that said, there are some elements beyond entertainment value that knock this one down a notch. There are a few hard-to-believe or questionable plot elements. There's also a corny, superhero-feel to the way Matt Bardoul, the main character, is presented at times. While L'Amour's writing is the main reason for that, I'm convinced part of that is the way narrator Robert Pretkoff voices Bardoul (Pretkoff does a great job overall, though).

Anyway, read this if you like Westerns or adventure stories. Don't read it if you don't.

[Stephanie Ricker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would not have guessed that this was L'Amour's first full-length novel; it's better than some of his later ones that I've read, with a surprisingly insightful introspective streak running through it. I was struck by the line, "The United States had been settled to a great degree by the economic failures of Europe, albeit the ones with courage enough to attempt a change. The wealthy and satisfied do not migrate, they stagnate." L'Amour doesn't directly say it, since these are thoughts coming from one of his characters, but the implication is: how dare we look down on those seeking to emigrate to the US today for their poverty or lack of education when our ancestors were exactly the same? The forboding atmosphere is well done, and L'Amour wasn't afraid to kill off likeable characters. The romance is typical L'Amour (abrupt and uncomfortable by today's standards), but it also plays a small role so I wasn't too bothered.

[Sep · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful story with several twists and turns as Matt Barduel outwits the outlaws, outshoots a killer or two, and, of course, gets the girl.

This book is the only one I've read by Louis L'Amour that takes place in the Little Big Horn area. Not sure of when it was supposed to take place, but the Custer battlefield is relatively fresh--bodies lightly buried, some disturbed by animals. It sounds like Louis knew someone who knew someone who was there.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandpa read a lot of Louis L'Amour when I was growing up, and I recently learned he called L'Amour's work "chewing gum for the mind."

I love that phrase, and definitely understand what he meant now I've read this! I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, and I will probably give some other western novels a try. A good read if you view it as an artifact of its time.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

L’amour’s stories catch you at first sentence and hold your attention, well entertained, til the very last sentence. There’s a reason why every single book he wrote, some 120 of them, are still in print today.
I became a fan by chance when I picked up a copy of one of his stories years ago. I wish I could recall the title. The character descriptions and landscapes are vivid. You will find yourself in the midst of the action.
I’ve decided to read all of his stories in chronological order, so as not to miss one. This title was his first, and it has it’s own fascinating story. Lost for many years, found and lost again, it nearly missed being published. Lucky for us, his fans, the print book was finally completed a few years ago.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story with Matt Bardoul the hero. A story about a wagon train going west on a journey to find a better life. However, Massey the villain is planning to kill everyone and then sell the wagon and their valuable freight. Instead through his stubbornness manages to save most of the wagon train and the final showdown is classic western.

Matt is shot and has a harrowing journey to catch up to the wagon train. This I thought was evocative especially the description of him riding through Custer's battlefield. A good western.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this wagon train story that moved north and was set in the Big Sky country. L'Amour has an incredible way of describing the landscape of the West regardless of how far north or south his stories take the reader. This one dealt with the Little Big Horn area and once again done rather well.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Western - The promise was gold waiting in the Big Horn Mountains. The plan was to head out with a handpicked party and the best in wagons, stock, and goods. Matt Bardoul bought in because the girl he wanted was there. But he sensed something wrong. As the wagon train journeys westward, a deadly plot unfolds. Bardoul is the only man between innocent people and a brutal conspiracy.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was everything wonderful in a Louie: true love; chivalry; gunfighting; sheer toughness; poetic passages about the West; mystery. I 100% loved all 8 hours I spent reading it over Thanksgiving Break. Thanks Maria!

[Brian Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow for the first 50 pages because of too many characters to introduce, but once they got out on the wagon train, the action kept coming and coming. Excellent read. If I could have, I would have given it 4.5 stars instead of 4.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel as well as any of the other L'Amour westerns I have read. Same general plot (the courageous drifter cowboy looking to settle down gets the girl). Lots of action.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good book, very worth my time to read it. It had all the classical L'Amour elements put together in good form.

[Scott Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay, nothing great. Prose was a little stilted, I thought, but maybe that was supposed to give it an old west flavor. I did keep picturing Gary Cooper as the main character.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only the second book I have read by L'Amour. Enjoyed it highly. Will be fitting more of his books into my reading pile.

[W]

I was once very fond of Louis L'Amour,and this is a good one.

[Geriann Albers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of my favorites. Middle okay. Beginning meh, ending as to be expected.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me awhile to really get into this book. I kept reading just a few pages and putting it back down. But once I really sat down to it, it was nearly impossible to put down.
The story doesn’t consist of what I’d consider a traditional wagon train drive. Instead, in a mostly settled west of the late 1870s, a train forms in Deadwood, Dakota Territory to drive west and start a town and find gold. The men invited are all men of means who are instructed what goods and supplies to bring along.
Into this setting rides Matt Bardoul, a seeming drifter, possible gunman, who was not invited by the original train leaders but by a friend. When the leaders learn of his desire to come, they are hesitant to outright hostile. Matt comes along regardless of fellow feeling because he’s fallen for the leader’s daughter, Jacquine Coyle.
Sensing something is wrong with the whole setup from the time they leave Deadwood, Matt spends the rest of the story trying to figure out what is in store for the innocent members of the party and how to save both them and the woman he’s fallen for.
The action rarely stops in this book, as the party is continually on the move. A story about a wagon train could certainly get monotonous but L’Amour handles the subject well, interspersing enough subplot to keep it from ever being dull.
Another interesting feature is the Army history lessons of the west found in this book. More or less factually, the history especially surrounding Fort Phil Kearny and the Fetterman Fight and Wagon Box Fight are summarized with Portugee Phillips even being a minor character in the story.
The only parts that rang quite false were when Bardoul receives something at Fort Reno that seems totally contrived for the sake of the story, and when an old Indian appears in their camp one night and spends four pages in a monologue of how the white man will not succeed in any endeavor, to say nothing of their present situation, because the white man is inherently greedy. It doesn’t work in the story because there’s no setup for the encounter and not a single character responds to it afterwards. The editor really should’ve taken a red pen to the whole section, not because the sentiment is right or wrong, but because it serves no purpose to the story. And in a story where every other moment is very pointed and concise, this along with the Fort Reno contrivance seem utterly forced
Body count and fights are average to high for a L’Amour story. The love story is given fairly adequate attention. All in all, a pretty fair example of L’Amour’s better work, though it doesn’t rank as high as my very favorite, Last Stand at Papago Wells.

[Rich · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly can't say if I've read this one before. Which is saying a lot. I thouhgt I'd read most of his novels. If I have read it before, I know why I haven't gone back to it.

The plot is interesting enough, cowboy Matt Bardoul buys into a wagon train heading up to the Big Horn Moutains. He's warned anonymously in an empty barn not to because no one is supposed to make it out of that wagon train. Of course that makes him want to go, and add into the mix a young woman he's head over heels about.

Along the way he discovers there is a deadly plot in the train, is made a deputy US Marshall and shot and left for dead two or three times. Plots within plots, mysterious people following the wagon train an the Souix for good measure.

It's set in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, an area L'Amour rarely wrote about.

All good ingredients, but it's a mess. As far along as this book was into L'Amour's career,this is a really clunky book. The first chapter feels more like it belongs in a romance novel than a western, with men being immediately smitten by a woman and doing irrational things because of it. The initial dialouge is stilted and clunky. There are digressions which feel more like they belong in one of John D. MacDonald's Travis Mcgee novels than a Louis L'Amour western. And we have an old Indian walking into camp and begins using English far more eloquently than even the most educated man on the wagon train, in an environmental soliloquy which makes me wonder if it was was inserted at the behest of the publisher, because it just doesn't feel much like L'Amour. The ending is fast-paced and exciting, but overall this was really a rough read. If I didn't know that L'Amour never used ghostwrites, I'd swear this is the product of a newbie ghostwriter. I don't know if I'll go back to it again.

[Fred LaMotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Each man has his illusion of himself. Only most of us are never called to face the truth, as he was that day."

This novel is so early it's first publication date isn't even listed in most LL bibliographies. As far as I can tell it was his first, even before the Hopalong Cassidy novels: written in 1950, but published in England, not the USA! The novel only came out here in 1976 (as part of the LL "lost treasures" project.)

Despite a raw structure that reads like a wagon train journal, and sometimes lapses into an essay on the ruinous results of Western "progress," these very qualities make it endearing and unique. There is a very long list of characters compared to most of his novels, but they are well drawn and concrete men and women. LL's purpose is to present, not stereotypes, but the "dramatis personae" of America's Westward tide.

This novel is set in the Custer battle lands and Wyoming's Big Horn mountains, with L'Amour's characteristic attention to every detail of landscape, geology, and "signs." Filled with accurate historical details as well, this book contains all the seed-motifs of his later ones - including a brilliant and precisely detailed fist-fight. I often marvel at those intricately delineated fist-fights. They are central to his novels, not because they offer gratuitous violence, but the revelation of character. Of course, Louis wrote from experience: he was a profession prize fighter.

When Louis gets going, he burns with the spontaneous blue flame of pure Zen story-telling, not a rustle of wind or creak of saddle-leather out of place: details you must pay attention to in the wilderness, if you plan on waking up tomorrow. What a "lost treasure" this novel truly is! Now one of my favorites.