Thirteen Moons

A Novel

By: Charles Frazier

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

This magnificent novel by one of America's finest writers is the epic of one man's remarkable journey, set in 19th-century America against the background of a vanishing people and a rich way of life.

At the age of 12, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins - for a brief moment - a mysterious girl named Claire, and his passion and desire for her spans this novel.

As Will's destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians - including a Cherokee chief named Bear - he learns how to fight and survive in the face of both nature and man. Eventually, under the Corn Tassel Moon, Will begins the fight against Washington to preserve the Cherokee's homeland and culture. And he will come to know the truth behind his belief that "only desire trumps time".

Brilliantly imagined, written with great power and beauty by a master of American fiction, Thirteen Moons is a stunning novel about a man's passion for a woman, and how loss, longing, and love can shape a man's destiny over the many moons of a life.

Don't miss Charles Frazier's debut novel, Cold Mountain.

©2006 3 Crows Corporation (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A bountiful literary panorama....The history that Frazier hauntingly unwinds through Will is as melodic as it is melancholy, but the sublime love story is the narrative's true heart." (Publishers Weekly)

It's a good read

I read COLD MOUNTAIN when it came out, and enjoyed it enough to pass it along to my dad. He was born and reared in the Virginia/West Virginia Appalachians and enjoyed the setting more than the story, I think. I saw the movie as well, and interestingly enough, preferred the book's ending to the movie's. THIRTEEN MOONS shares the location setting, but takes it back to pre-Civil War. Will Cooper; orphaned and abandoned as a child, adopted by a clan of Cherokee and eventually becoming its leader, leads quite an extraordinary life, to hear him tell it. I found Will to be an unreliable, yet sympathetic narrator of his life story, given, as old men will be, to braggadocio and bravado.

THIRTEEN MOONS is written in the same vein, but on a much lesser scale than, McMurtry's LONESOME DOVE or Phillip Meyer's THE SON. The plot is not nearly as involved, nor the scope as encompassing. It was a very good read (listen actually, since I got it through Audible), but I'd prefer THE SON.

I could listen to Will Patton read the phone book; he was extraordinary in THE SON.

Painfully Tragic

If you love justice this will be a melancholy experience with brief moments of joy.

now this is a story

I loved everything about this book. I think I'll be listening to it over and over again. Beautiful prose and Will Patton is a fantastic narrator.

Frazier delivers fresh delicious take on frontier

I loved Cold Mountain which brought me to Thirteen Moons. I did not have expectations for this book to equal Cold Mountain . but they ght from the beginning it drew me in. the entire book never once failed or rang a sour note.

Wonderful!

Loved everything by Mr. Frazier, and Mr. Patton's reading made this book even more wonderful!!!

thirteen moons

Many books are made much more enjoyable by the narration, this book is a prime example of that. I can't imagine it done by anyone but Mr. Patton. This is the first book I will listen to again. Wonderful.

An enlightening and masterfully written book

Although this book was slow in parts, the writing was masterful. His descriptions never failed to amaze because they were so lyrical, so original. I did not know how integrated so many of the displaced native americans had become before being forced to walk away from all they had known and everything they had worked to build by the unpeakably cruel Andrew Jackson. It was an eye opener, esp. since he so painstakingly researched the history.

wonderful!

This is one of my favorite books of all time. The narrator is absolutely PERFECT for this fascinating book about the time of the Cherokee trail of tears.

Mr. Frazier turns a beautiful phrase

A beautifully written work of our countries history....whether remembered or imagined. I hope Audible has more of his proses other than the two I have enjoyed to date.

What a great story

As a man about to turn 50 this story gave me some perspective on dealing with this time in my life. All while immersing me in, what I consider to be, the most romantic time in our nations history spanning the 1820’s to the 1920’s, although specific dates are not mentioned. It was so good I sat in a spell while the end credits were read and the “Thank you for listening we hope you enjoyed” phrase was played. I sat and contemplated for a long time in silence with my earbuds on thinking about the story and my own life. I highly recommend this book.