THE HORSE TALKER

Lan, the adoptive son of a Commanche family, reaches the point of maturity and must invoke the Gods to grant him power. But at the moment of his great trial the boy is confronted by his complicated background. Arrested by a group of white men, he is identified, not as a Commanche, but as a red-haired, blue-eyed white boy, He is forced to join a group of white men, and rides the Southwestern plains in search of a beautiful and rebellious horse. In subduing the animal, he understands that the gods have granted him his gift, a rapport with horses. It is at this moment, at the dusk of Commanche supremacy, that Lan is able to accept himself for what he is, a man whose roots are deep both within the Commanche society and the white. Consistently intense in mood and character portrayal, this Indian western is considerably more rounded than many books set in the period and is, consequently, recommended.