ALL GOD'S CHILDREN

Three lives intersect in 19th-century Texas in this sprawling adventure novel.

In 1827, young Duncan Lammons sets off from his home in Butler County, Kentucky, to stake out a new life in Texas, then part of Mexico. “It’s a peculiar sort of man who needs a fresh start by the age of twenty, but I was always peculiar,” he explains—in part because he’s gay, which has made him the subject of rumors in his county. He befriends another young man named Noah Smithwick along the way, and after a few years the two decide to join the nascent Texian Army to fight for the territory’s independence. Meanwhile, an enslaved Black woman named Cecelia is sold several times to different cruel masters, eventually ending up in Louisiana, where she’s stolen from the man who bought her and freed by Samuel Fisk, who fought alongside Duncan in Texas (and for whom Duncan nurses a significant crush). Gwyn switches points of view between Duncan and Cecelia as the two navigate pre–Civil War Texas, with Duncan remaining a soldier and Cecelia and Samuel raising a child, until a series of violent events threaten the safety of the couple and their son. Gwyn knows how to tell a story—he builds suspense wonderfully, and one long section that deals with Duncan and his fellow soldiers fighting in the 1846 Battle of Monterrey is some of the most thrilling prose readers are likely to encounter this year. But the book’s ending, set at the advent of the Civil War, seems tacked on and unnecessary, and while Gwyn treats Duncan’s homosexuality with real sensitivity, some readers might rankle at the plot involving Cecelia and Duncan, which veers toward White saviorism. Still, readers who enjoyed books like Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (1985) will find much to admire here.

Gwyn’s book isn’t perfect, but his excellent writing and gift for pacing make this an enjoyable historical novel.