The Color of Lightning: A Novel

This book is partially based on fact and the history is rich about the Indians after the Civil War. Excellent read and would recommend Enemy Women also by the same author.

This is the first novel I've read by Paulette Jiles and I jump to applaud her! The Color of Lightning is masterful storytelling as brutal and raw as the language is beautiful and lyrical. I was so riveted to this page turner that I could not put it down until I finished it. There are plenty of plot summaries among the other reviews so I will not repeat one here. I will say though that The Color of Lightning is a gripping piece of historical fiction based on true events in post Civil War Texas. It is a unique narrative, weaving the voices of several different perspectives ~ a freed African American slave/settler and his family, the American Indian tribes whose lands were being settled, the Quaker US government land agent applying his principles of non-violence and duty ~ perspectives on murder, family, ownership, captivity, flight, freedom... into a rich and eloquent American tapestry. It is a tragic as it is a life-affirming read and I recommend it highly. I look forward to reading some other titles by Ms. Jiles as well. Again I say "Bravo" for The Color of Lightning!

Paulette Jiles's "The Color of Lightning" is a beautiful, emotional foray into North Texas as white settlers begin to take the land from Kiowa and Comanche tribes. In return, the Indians take American and Mexican captives, steal horses, and cattle. It is history, the outcome is known, and yet this book is suspenseful and emotional and beautiful. The book touched me with the beauty of the vast plains of Texas, the movements of one horse or thousands, the great buffalo herds, the towering clouds and meadows, mountains, forests, rivers. Jiles includes the details of the natural world in deft descriptive passages. The book touched me with emotions: for the captives, some of whom preferred the Kiowa or Comanche ways and some who longed for home and revenge; for the black soldiers and the black freight men, trying to earn a living and respect after the Civil War officially granted the rights that were not recognized; the love of one man for one woman over a long road to recovery from horrendous hardship and brutality. The book widened my view of history. I knew of the battles of the plains, of Custer, and the Sioux. Here we have revealed the stories of other settlers, other tribes, the Quaker Indian Agent, who sought peace and fairness among war-like scoundrels on both sides. Above all, this is the fictionalized story of Britt Johnson, a former slave, seeking to live free. "The Color of Lightning" is a fast read, but it is not a flash on the horizon. It is a unique retelling from oral histories that will live in readers' hearts long after the last page has been turned.

To read the work of Paulette Jiles is both a privilege and a pleasure. Reviewing her debut novel, Enemy Women, I described her prose as artful, her story painful in its authenticity yet poetically rendered, and the book as one that would not be forgotten. I would echo those sentiments regarding The Color Of Lightning. An acclaimed poet and memorist, her literary voice haunts as she explores the plight of humanity in its progress. Once again she turns to pages from our history to bring us an imagined story, yet one based on prodigious research, documentation, and oral history. Set in post-Civil War North Texas it is the morning of October 13, 1864 when Britt Johnson, a freed-man, is preparing his team of horses to go to Weatherford for supplies. He leaves behind his wife, Mary, and their two youngest children. Stopping along the way he leaves his eldest son, Jim, at the Fitzgerald home for a visit. While Britt is away "...a combined force of seven hundred Comanche and Kiowa poured down into what the white people knew as Young County. Mary and the children are captured by the Kiowa, while Elizabeth Fitzgerald and her granddaughter are seized by the Comanches. They were, it seemed at the time, more fortunate than Susan Durgan whose "scalp and its tangled brown hair bounced on the pommel of a man named Eaten Alive." Thus, Britt's odyssey begins, a search for his family across unfriendly, unfamiliar terrain often in enemy territory. In a parallel story Samuel Hammond, a Philadelphia Quaker, is delegated by the Society of Friends to go West as the Indian agent, to befriend and teach the Comanche and Kiowa, to give them goods, calico, muslin, rations of beef, farming implements, as if these "would bring order and obedience." And then they would be happy to live on a reservation. It is also his task to rescue those taken captive and return them to their families, little knowing that some seized as children have no wish to return, in fact fear what they do not remember or understand. Later, a young girl called Good Medicine is brought to him. When he reassures her that now she will not go hungry, he realizes it is not starvation she fears but "She was afraid of the slow death of confinement. Of being trapped inside immovable houses and stiff clothing.....She could not go out at dawn alone and sing, she would not be seen and known by the rising sun." There is a great deal of beauty in Jiles's book and large portions of truth. Questions that today remain unanswered. Highly recommended. - Gail Cooke

In Texas freed slave Britt Johnson is still angry with his wife Mary when he stomps off to get supplies. When he returns still somewhat fuming, he finds a horrific sight awaiting him. His oldest son is dead; his spouse and their two other kids as well as their elderly neighbor and his grandchildren are gone. He knows the Kiowa abducted them; that is if they have not killed them. When the Kiowa abuse the female prisoners, Johnson's ten-year-old son adapts their lifestyle rather easily. Meanwhile Johnson begins a quest to rescue his family while the Office of Indian Affairs sends Quaker Samuel Hammond to convert nomadic Kiowa from a feral society to agriculture. He is especially appalled with the tribe's abduction policy and even more aghast when some of the kidnapped prefer to remain with their abductees. Johnson refuses to quit seeking to ransom his family; knowing the mental scars each bears. Based on a legendary mid nineteenth century hero, THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING is a superb historical biographical fiction that brings vividly to life the saga of Britt Johnson. The cast is powerful as guilt ridden Britt struggles with rescuing his family members from the Kiowa and afterward coping with their changes; his wife is mentally and physically an abuse victim and his two surviving children, especially his son, have adapted to the Indian culture; each finds it difficult to return to their previous life. Paulette Jiles provides a thoughtful look at a true American hero and his family. Harriet Klausner

"The Color of Lightning" is a novelized account of the lives of real people and actual events in the Texas of the 1860s and the surrounding Indian Territory. Very literately written, it tells of Britt and Mary Johnson, a black couple who settle in Texas as freed slaves, and their children; Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a ranch widow of indomitable spirit; and Samuel Hammond, a Quaker hired to manage the Indian agency which ministers to the Comanche and Kiowa, who don't want white ways pressed on them. Samuel is one of the few fictionalized people in the book; most characters here actually existed. In the hours when the men are away on a freighting job, the Johnson and Fitzgerald homesteads are descended upon by Comanche and Kiowa together. The women are brutalized, the children are either snatched up or killed, and the survivors are kidnapped away. Upon his return from freighting, Britt sets about going after them, doing so in a measured, thought-out manner, nothing brash or unconsidered. His coolness is what helps him survive many touchy situations. Very well written and researched, the author, Paulette Jiles, presents a vivid story of a wild time in the history of that locale. She shows clearly the obtuseness of those running the agencies, with their pigheaded insistence on their own way, the white way, not trying to understand a people who have managed quite well, thank you, without learning outside ways, for centuries. There is a bit of pigheadedness on that side as well, in that the tribes stolidly refused to see that what was coming, as sad as it was, was inevitable. Interestingly, I read an account of this incident the very day I started this book, in a Western publication, and was surprised to discover the authenticity of the story. The incident itself sparked a movie called "The Searchers" a few decades ago, with a Hollywoodized cast; the truth got a little lost in the shuffle. This book comes much closer to the truth, and is recommended highly, especially for readers interested in the Texas of that era and the lost glory days of the Comanche and Kiowa Nations.