Hondo
(Book)

Reprint. Originally published: New York : Fawcett Gold Medal, 1952.

From America's favorite storyteller comes this thrilling novel of the frontier whose timeless themes of courage, duty, and honor resonate today more than ever. In Hondo, Louis L'Amour chronicles the uniquely American drama of a plainspoken military scout who rides into the life of a strong-willed woman. This is the account of their extraordinary struggle for survival in a land of untamed beauty on the dark eve of war.... HONDO Hondo Lane was a man who'd come to terms with the hard land in which he lived. He rode dispatch for General Croos through the Arizona desert--a severe and beautiful landscape where one mistake could lead to a quick and lonely death. It was on the way to deliver an important message about an imminent Apache raid that he came upon an isolated ranch defended by a lone woman and her young son. But Angie Lowe wasn't just any woman. She was a fighter with as much grit and determination as any man. She, too, had carved out a place in this hard and beautiful land, and she wasn't about to leave it without making a stand--for her beliefs, for her son, and for the future. With the forces of history swirling around them, Hondo and Angie will have to protect themselves against an uprising led by the great Vittoro, a noble Apache warrior driven by his own fierce code of honor--and another, far more ruthless enemy, driven by hatred, greed, and jealousy, who'll betray any principle, commit any atrocity to destroy them all.... An unforgettable tale of courage, love, and adventure, told with a historian's attention to detail, Hondo is quintessential Louis L'Amour--a classic novel of ordinary men and women pushed to the limits of their endurance...and emerging, as does the author himself, true American legends.