The Madstone

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Crook

Narrated by: Will Collyer

With echoes of Lonesome Dove and News of the World, the riveting story of a pregnant young mother, her child, and the frontier tradesman who helps them flee across Texas from outlaws bent on revenge, even as an unlikely love blossoms.

Texas, 1868. As nineteen-year-old Benjamin Shreve tends to business in his workshop, he witnesses a stagecoach strand a passenger. When the man persuades Benjamin to help track down the vanished coach—and a mysterious fortune left aboard—he is drawn into a drama whose scope he could never have imagined.

The missing coach has a surprise in store: its other passengers include Nell, a pregnant young woman, and her four-year-old son, Tot, who are on the run from Nell’s brutal husband and his murderous brothers. After learning of their plight, Benjamin offers Nell and Tot passage to the distant Gulf of Mexico, where they can escape to safety. This chivalrous act will prove more dangerous than he could have expected, as buried secrets—including a cursed necklace—reveal themselves.

Even as Benjamin falls in love with Nell and imagines life as Tot’s father, vengeful pursuers are on their trail. With its vivid characters and expansive canvas, The Madstone calls to mind Larry McMurtry’s American epics. The novel is full of eccentric action, unrelenting peril, and droll humor—a thrilling and beautifully rendered story of three people sharing a hazardous and defining journey that will forever bind them together.

Critic reviews

"Crook has written the perfect adventure to curl up with on some desolate winter night . . . There is something satisfying about being in the presence of such a conscientious protagonist . . . Crook is a master at rustling up competing forces to create cinematic calamities . . . This story gallops madly along from one imperiled moment to another . . . Terrifically entertaining."—Washington Post

“A wonderfully transporting tale of the Old West.”—People Magazine

“As thrilling as its predecessor . . . a compelling read on its own terms.”—Texas Monthly

"The Madstone is tender, violent, funny, and, like just about everything Crook writes, drenched in Texas history."—Houston Chronicle

"An epic journey across the Lone Star State."—Dallas Morning News

"A beautifully crafted story . . . Benjamin’s smart, heartfelt and witty narration makes the story as well as the manner in which Crook brings 1860s Texas vividly to life. Her writing and sense of place are stunning . . . Have tissues handy when you read it.”—Buzz Magazine

“Crook has a gift for engaging details . . . The guiding spirit here is Dickens . . . An entertaining, well-paced yarn.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"This epistolary novel will appeal to western and historical fiction readers alike (particularly Lone Star aficionados)."—Booklist

“Elizabeth Crook is already a household name in Texas, but The Madstone should establish her as a national figure, evoking the works of Charles Portis and Larry McMurtry as we go on a harrowing (and sometimes humorous) ride through 1868 Texas.”—CrimeReads

"A fresh take on the Western novel which should be much admired."—Historical Novel Society

"An ­eloquent and funny adventure novel . . . The Madstone perfectly balances a wry sense of humor with a melancholy contemplation of loneliness and love . . . Crook’s book is a worthy entry into the canon of modern Western novels."—WORLD magazine

“The Madstone is a wonderful book. The tale that Elizabeth Crook conjures out of the most basic materials—a man goes on a trip, things happen, and the trip becomes a quest—should take its place alongside the very best novels of the American West, a top rank that includes Lonesome Dove, Little Big Man, News of the World, and Blood Meridian. Yes, it’s that good; I didn't want it to end. Benjamin Shreve and his compatriots affected me as few characters have in recent years, and I think of them still.”—Ben Fountain, National Book Critics Circle Award winner, National Book Award finalist, and New York Times bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Highly enjoyable tale of a young man's Journey in post Civil War Texas

Great story telling about a young cabinet-maker who decides to help a pregnant woman and her young son travel by horse drawn wagon through Texas to the Gulf of Mexico to escape murderous pursuers of the Swamp Fox. A realistic, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking book of hardships and the human spirit.

An entertaining western yarn and a coming of age and first love story

It was well written and the narrator did a great job as well. I enjoyed it.

Best Audiobook Reading Ever

Everything about this book is extraordinary - the story, the well-defined characters, the locations all deserve praise. What stands out, though, is the performance by Will Collyer. I have never before been so consistently moved, engaged, and enthralled as I was by the way he inhabits the characters in this novel. An amazing winning combo - an excellent novel, read perfectly, with heart and emotion.

Texas History Brought to Life

Great storytelling with broken English throughout. Authentic feel and easy to follow. Worth the read!

Outstanding

A wonderfully researched and written tale. The reader is drawn in immediately and becomes complete vested in the characters. Can’t wait for the author’s next book!