Hoopla Book Club Hub

Join us for an online book discussion using Zoom software! We’re reading News of the World by Paulette Jiles

In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.

In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.

Download a copy of the e-book or e-audiobook immediately on Hoopla (with your Durham Library card) here.  No holds and no waiting. Registration and email address required to receive a zoom link. We will email a Zoom link to all registered participants prior to the meeting. Please register here.

Online discussion (from the comfort of your own home!) will take place on Tuesday October 20 at 7:00 PM. See you then!