Summary, Analysis & Review of Paulette Jiles's News of the World by Instaread Preview: News of the World by Paulette Jiles is the story of an unlikely friendship between an old man, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, and a 10-year-old girl, Johanna Leonberger, who was rescued from the Kiowa Indians. The novel is set in 1870 in Reconstruction-era Texas, a dangerous time and place known for frequent Indian raids and widespread anarchism. While journeying...

"In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers...

Five years after the Civil War, Captain Kidd moves from town to town as a storyteller. In Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna, a ten-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier. She is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will. Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search...