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    Glorious: A Novel of the American West
    Unavailable
    Glorious: A Novel of the American West
    Unavailable
    Glorious: A Novel of the American West
    Audiobook12 hours

    Glorious: A Novel of the American West

    Written by Jeff Guinn

    Narrated by David Carpenter

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    We've all got mistakes in our past we'd rather forget.

    Cash McLendon has always had an instinct for self-preservation, one that was honed by an impoverished childhood and life with an alcoholic father barely scraping by on the streets of Saint Louis in 1872. He's always had a knack for finding and capitalizing on the slightest opportunities, choosing the path of financial security over happiness or real friends. He eventually builds himself up from a Saint Louis street urchin to the son-in-law and heir apparent to industrial mogul Rupert Douglass. Though it lacks passion, his life seems securely set: a wife, a career, property, standing.

    But when tragedy strikes, all of his plans and his entire future dissolve in an instant. McLendon's instinct for survival kicks in; he flees Saint Louis, and Douglas assigns his enforcer, an ominous skull-cracker with steel-toed boots, to track him down.

    With nothing to lose, McLendon attempts to reconcile with an old flame-a woman he was nearly engaged to but put aside in exchange for the life now in shambles. He heard through the grapevine that she and her father moved their dry-goods store out west, to a speck-on-the-map mining town named Glorious, in the Arizona Territory. There, McLendon tries to win her back, and in the process discovers a new way of life at the edge of the final American frontier. But he can't outrun his past forever. . . .

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 6, 2014
    ISBN9780698163904
    Unavailable
    Glorious: A Novel of the American West
    Author

    Jeff Guinn

    Jeff Guinn is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Go Down Together, The Last Gunfight, Manson, The Road to Jonestown, War on the Border, and Waco. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.

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    Reviews for Glorious

    4/5

    11 ratings18 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      I have read Jeff Guinn’s non-fiction and found them quite well done and rewarding. Here Guinn tries his hand at telling a true tale of the American West without the trappings of the dime novel exaggerations and gun smoke.

      The protagonist, Cash McLendon, grew up with an alcoholic father in St. Louis who didn’t really provide for him. McLendon survives by earning the trust of his employer by being a spy on employees and other business entities and quickly becomes his eyes and ears across city. His employer is a rich but viscous man whose main goal is to take over other people’s businesses through questionable business means, or by intimidation and violence if necessary.

      McLendon is not a bad person himself but he falls right into step with his employer and patron because he is intent on surviving and his ability to make friends, listen, and cajole people to do what his boss wants, or get information that can allow his boss to squash them, is how he’s made his way in the world.

      McClendon eventually falls in love with Gabrielle, whose father owns a dry goods store. Garbrielle also does good deeds across the community, including teaching people how to read. Over time, McLendon’s boss tries to muscle Gabrielle and her father out of business, and basically forces McLendon to marry his psychotic daughter. In the meantime, Gabrielle and her father flee West to a hardscrabble mining camp called Glorious.

      Unfortunately for McLendon, one night when his in-laws are out of town a serious issue comes up with one of his patron’s factories, and while he was told under no circumstances to leave his wife alone, he goes off any way to deal with the issue.

      Not to give too much away but some bad things happen and McLendon flees and eventually, because he knows his patron’s deadly enforcer is right on his heels, he decides to head to the town of Glorious to find his lost love Gabrielle. He soon finds himself in a very similar circumstance as before and must eventually take sides.

      The set up and unfolding of this novel is extremely well done and the characters and conflict that develops in Glorious are well thought out. The townspeople really come to life, to the key town founders to the gritty miners out to strike it rich. This is a superbly done Western that is quite realistic. It also sets up for the reader to follow Cash McLendon in future novels.

      Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that I never wanted to end, but Glorious by Jeff Guinn was exactly that kind of book for me. I was already a fan of this author from reading some of his non-fiction, but this was the first fictional novel of his that I have read and his Old West tale came alive as he told the story of one small Arizona town struggling to stay alive amidst Apache deprivations, unlucky prospectors, domineering ranchers and an assorted crew of lovable losers looking for their second chance. Although a little slow to get going, the plot of a man fleeing trouble in his past only to find himself in even worse trouble is a classic. The author paints a realistic and colorful picture of the hot, windy and dusty Arizona frontier, and fills the pages with an assortment of worn, tired and rough-hewn characters that bring a sense of authenticity to the story. The author has an incredible eye for detail and obviously knows how to get his research right. He has used these abilities to produce a western that is entertaining, informative, and colorful. Glorious is the first novel of a trilogy which makes me happy to know that I have more of this unique western story to look forward to.
    • 5/5
      Glorious was a well-written, easy-to-follow Western. The characters were all believable and redeeming. I read a lot of books and am very critical. As you can see from my list, 4.5 stars are not easy to come by from me!!!Feel free to read the other reviews for a synopsis of the book. I am more interested in giving it a hearty thumbs up!!!I can't wait for Jeff's sequel to Glorious!!! I only hope I will not miss it when it comes out!
    • 4/5
      This was truly a great read. Part historical novel and part mystery, I was riveted. Western/cowboy novels are not generally my genre, but this was a good book. I think people who love westerns as well as those who prefer mysteries or crime dramas will enjoy reading this book.
    • 4/5
      Glorious is a Western that sticks to its time so know going in that it might bring discomfort in reading of how other races were treated in times gone by but it wouldn't be true to its story if it told it any other way. Our hero is run out of St. Louis after the death of a wife he really didn't love with a hit man on his tail. He ends up in Glorious, Arizona, hoping to start over. Once there life doesn't turn out for him as he hopes even though his old flame resides in the dusty mining town. The book was full of twists and turns and good ole Western action. I really enjoyed my foray into Glorious - I'm not much of a Western fan but now and again a synopsis will intrigue me and I'm glad I read this one.
    • 4/5
      I won this book in exchange for an honest review.Glorious by Jeff Guinn is a novel set in the old west. This is not a traditional western with desperadoes, gun slingers and shoot outs. The West is more of a setting for the book.The main protagonist, Cash McClendon, is on the run and heads out to the town of Glorious to rekindle his romance with an old flame. It is while in Glorious that Cash inherits a whole new host of problems.Mr. Guinn gives the reader a believable plot because of the flawed character of Cash McClendon. The author's prose keeps the story moving along at a good, easy reading pace and the story itself, although about Cash's quest to regain his true love, is not heavy on the romance.I enjoyed this book very much. The main character of Cash is a likable character although a bit of a schmuck in his past. He is certainly flawed; giving his character a human quality. The surrounding minor characters provide support for the story and keep the plot real. I hope there is a book 2 coming as the ending of the book definitely left room for an ongoing series.A good read.
    • 4/5
      Somehow, Glorious managed to be addicting. Although, it was also predictable. It was frustrating when I could tell exactly what was going to happen, but the characters and plot were compelling enough to keep me reading. I wanted the story to keep going - the ending was very abrupt - to me, it wasn't an ending at all, but an open-ended book just awaiting a sequel. Still a good read - if there were a sequel, I would probably read it just to find out what happens next.
    • 4/5
      Glorious is a page turning western. The characters are interesting and the plot was compelling although not surprising. I was really getting into it when it just stopped. The book seems less like a book on its own than a set up for the sequel. I read a lot of book series, but each book must stand on its own, not just set up the next one. Overall, a good read although I won't actively search out the sequel.
    • 4/5
      This was a refreshing western to read - the author included lots of good historical and practical information. He took the time to explain silver mining and weaponry in ways that felt like a natural part of the story. The hero was believable and acted very human. As did most of the characters in the book.
    • 3/5
      Glorious is a fairly well-written Western that suffers for mainly serving as the prologue for a planned series based on the main character, a fact that is not revealed until the climactic scene falls flat with an unbelievable deus ex machina that side-steps the promised action with a reintroduction of the plot from the first part of the book which had been ignored up until that point and serves as a reminder as to who the real antagonist is, setting up the sequel.The description of the life of a fading western boom-town is well done, and the transformation of the main character is well -written, but the book is let down by its ending.
    • 4/5
      There are lessons you learn early in life and mistakes you make that will haunt you for the rest of your life. The lure of a rich wife over true love is one of those mistakes that the main character makes and then he must spend the rest of the book trying to redeem himself. The reader is taken from the sophistication of the East Coast to the hot, dusty silver mining town of Glorious Arizona. From there we see if the girl can be won back, a tarnished past can be shined up and one man and his friends can save a hard scrapping town from a power hungry rancher. The characters will bring to mind "Lonesome Dove" as the author does his best to show us the good and bad side of this brutal life. Your fate and future was held in a handful of shiny rocks or dependent upon those who were lucky enough to find those shiny riches. Anyone looking for not only a great western but also a historical piece on the American West will enjoy this. Thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for making this book available.
    • 1/5
      I have mentioned many times before how much of a fan of Westerns that I am. Thus the reason that I was excited to get a copy of this book back when it was released. However when I started reading it, I was not feeling it as much as I had hopes for. So I stopped reading the book and forgot about it until recently. Thus I picked the book up again to start reading it. I only read a few more chapters before I put the book down but this time for good. There was nothing exciting about it or the people in it. The story seemed to move along slowly and the old world of Arizona was not given much details. Which I was most looking forward to.
    • 4/5
      It took me more than one evening to complete this read, but it was not a disappointment. Cash McLendon is a man's man. He endures a loveless marriage in St. Louis that ends with the death of his wife and a contract on his life issued by his gangster father-in-law. Escaping south and then to the wild, untamed west, one step ahead of the hitman, he finds himself in Glorious, Arizona, potential boom town and current residence of his former girl friend. I sure thought they would eventually get together, just as I expected the hitman to turn up. Who knew said hoodlum would save the day, at least for some. I wanted a different ending, but we can tell that there will be more of Cash. It was not difficult to close one's eyes and see the dusty camp sites of the prospectors, and the conniving smirk of the greedy, rich, ranch owner who wants to take the town out from under it's founders. I was a little unnerved by the un-PC language used to identify the ethnic groups in the book, but my consultant on all things literary (my academic husband) assures me it is ok if used in a period piece as language that would have been the norm for the historical time.As a kid of the 1950's, westerns were all over TV, and I was in front of it, doing my homework, as the boobtube took me back to the 1870's. This will take you there too. My thanks to the Penguin First-to-Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 4/5
      Glorious is a Western that sticks to its time so know going in that it might bring discomfort in reading of how other races were treated in times gone by but it wouldn't be true to its story if it told it any other way. Our hero is run out of St. Louis after the death of a wife he really didn't love with a hit man on his tail. He ends up in Glorious, Arizona, hoping to start over. Once there life doesn't turn out for him as he hopes even though his old flame resides in the dusty mining town. The book was full of twists and turns and good ole Western action. I really enjoyed my foray into Glorious - I'm not much of a Western fan but now and again a synopsis will intrigue me and I'm glad I read this one.
    • 3/5
      1872 and the Arizona territory is the setting for tale of the west. I was set to read a western yet I was given a story that could of occurred in any age at any time. What sets this story apart is the authors descriptions of the life and times of the people in this story. The descriptions of the sky, mountains, the roads and the methods of transportation made me need a drink to get the dust out of my mouth. Only to read about the taste of the eater, beer, and whiskey they drink. This was not an easy life, yet the people grow on you and you are hoping for the best outcome in their search for the golden ring on the merry-go-round of life. I enjoyed this book and hope you will also.
    • 3/5
      The preface of this book was intriguing, but nothing in the remainder of the book lived up to this promise. It was just dogged determination that kept me reading. At 200 pages, it might have been a pleasant vignette about life in a mining town. However, the story stretched over 400 uneventful pages. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen and it never did. The ending was extremely abrupt. It seems that there will be another book with the same protagonist. I hope it doesn't also include the clichéd villain from this book. It wasn't an awful book, but I will not be reading a sequel. I received a free copy of a proof of this book from the publisher.
    • 5/5
      A well written story of the old west. The story line demonstrates the author’s research and knowledge about the period. It contains the regular mechanisms of literature but the foreshadowing left me with a big surprise finish. If you are a fan of western novels or someone looking for a diversion from the standard spy novels you will certainly enjoy this book. I for one will look for additional works from Jeff Guinn.
    • 4/5
      Once upon a time, stories of the American West were everywhere - on the big screen, the small screen, bookshelves, radios, you name it. But the magic of the Wild West is fading as the heroism of gunslingers and silver miners is overshadowed by the information age. Here, in Jeff Guinn’s tribute to the American West, that magic is brought back to life. For lovers of Westerns, this is your book. The film version could easily star Clint Eastwood or, more likely, John Wayne. Cash McLendon, the main character, is rough around the edges but loveable for his loyalty. And the town he moves to, Glorious, Arizona, is typically inhabited by run-down but optimistic characters. I admit to not loving Cash McLendon immediately as a character, but the secondary characters, the townspeople, were vibrant and I wanted to know everything about them. Once I got through the first rough chapters of the novel, into the real heart of the Western, I couldn’t put it down.