Authors: Larry McMurtry
ISBN-13: 9780684853871, ISBN-10: 0684853876
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Date Published: July 2002
Edition: Reprint
Larry McMurtry worked as a cowhand on his father's Texas cattle ranch until he was 22, but never aspired to be a rancher. Instead, he published his first novel, Horseman, Pass By, when he was just 25. More than two dozen novels later, there's still more to McMurtry than a typical western.
My foot's in the stirrup,
My pony won't stand;
Goodbye, old partner,
I'm leaving Cheyenne.
-- Old cowboy song
Leaving Cheyenne, Larry McMurtry's second novel, traces the loves of three West Texas characters as they follow that sundown trail: Gideon Fry, the serious rancher; Johnny McCloud, the free-spirited cowhand; and Molly Taylor, the sensitive woman they both love and who bears them each a son. Tragic circumstances mark the trail but McMurtry's style never turns melodramatic or sentimental.