The Rest of the EarthIn the years following the Civil War, Walker Avary sails from Boston to San Francisco, and then heads into the remote West, following the sketchy maps of the few who have gone before him. A man who barely knew his father and whose youth was spent drifting through the backwoods of the East, he is compelled to find his place in the world, to shape his own history and fate. As he travels, he experiences several fleeting relationships before settling in a remote valley with "the Sheepeater girl," a young native woman whose tribe was destroyed by its previous encounters with white men. Together through the deep winter as they stake Walker's claim, the texture of their lives is recounted in prose so sensuous that the sights, the scents, the wildlife, and even the natural elements they encounter are made startlingly vivid. |
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ain't arms aspen Avary badlands beneath blanket blue boots branches brush canvas caught chest Cheyenne Circassian girl cliffs climbed clouds cold cottonwoods creek dark deep edge Eugenia eyes felt fingers fire flames flat flow Fort Washakie grass gray gray jay green Green River ground hair hand head heard heat held Henry Henry's hills horse Indians knew lake leaned legs lichen light listened Little Wind River lodge miles mountains moved mule neck night Owen Paiutes peaks plain Plantin-Moretus Museum pulled ridge rifle road rocks sage sagebrush scent scree seemed shadow shirt shoulders skillet skin slopes slowly smelled smoke snow soft someone sound stars stone stood straight surface swallowed rivers thick thought tipis took trail trees trousers turned valley voice wagon waited Walker saw walls watched WILLIAM HAYWOOD willows Wind River Wind River Range window woods