The Pumpkin Rollers » (First Edition)

Elmer Kelton, author of more than forty novels, grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. For forty-two years he had a parallel career in agricultural journalism.

Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Among his best-known works have been The Time It Never Rained and The Good Old Boys, the latter made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones.

He served in the infantry in World War II. He and his wife, Ann, a native of Austria, live in San Angelo, Texas. They have three children, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

In the cattle drives of the Old West, pumpkin rollers were green farmboys, almost more trouble than they were worth.

When Trey McLean leaves his family's East Texas cotton farm and sets off on his own to learn the cattleman's trade, he's about as green as they come. But Trey learns fast. He learns about deceit when a con man cheats him out of his grubstake and about love when he meets the woman he's destined to marry.

And when luck finally sets him on a cattle drive to Kansas, Trey learns the trade from veteran drover Ivan Kerbow, but he also learns the code of violence and death from outlaw Jarrett Longacre, a man who will plague his life at every turn.

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Trey McLean is a little young to leave his parents' east Texas farm--he's 18--but he's ready to live his dream of becoming a cattleman. On his way west, however, his little four-cow herd is stolen by a crooked sheriff. More troubles follow, as Trey runs afoul and also meets young Sarah Stark, a comely rancher's daughter with whom he will eventually fall in love. This is a coming-of-age tale, western style, and veteran genre-master Kelton handles the theme well. The key characters are all carefully and believably rendered; no one steps out of character yet none responds with a cliche. Trey McLean will stay with readers awhile. It's a pleasure to share the heady sense of freedom he feels as he leaves home and to empathize as the numerous setbacks slow his progress but never destroy his resolve. And when he makes his ultimate decision regarding his life and Sarah, it's born out of a newfound maturity coupled with his dreams. Fine reading.