‘The Englishman’s Boy’ by Guy Vanderhaeghe is a historical novel about a real massacre which took place in Canada. American bison hunters who called themselves “wolfers” rode into a camp of Assiniboine Natives near a Cypress Hills trading post. The hunters got drunk first after buying whiskey at the trading post, and then proceeded to accuse the natives of stealing horses. They searched the camp and found no American horses, but that didn’t stop the Americans from deciding to implement the American policy of “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.”

The area was called the Northwest Territories in 1873 when the murder of perhaps thirteen of the natives occurred. The area was located in what later became the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. When news of the murders spread, many Canadians were very angry at Americans. As a result the Northwest Mounted Police was created. Canada asked for extradition of the hunters, but of course their request was refused. The incident is forgotten today.

The author has revived the historical incident in this novel, imagining who the “wolfers” were, creating a character, a boy, who reluctantly joined the hunters, unaware fully of what the “wolfers” intended. The Englishman’s boy had been hired as a valet to a wealthy Englishman. Shortly after arriving in America, his boss died. The boy had had a hard farming life of poverty, and he had run away from his abusive father at age thirteen. He was determined to live a life dependent on no one but himself. However, the only job he could immediately find after the death of his first employer was joining the party of hunters led by an American, Tom Hardwick. Supposedly they were following the tracks of the natives who had actually stolen horses from Hardwick’s hired hands while they slept. They lost the track, but that didn’t stop Hardwick from deciding he knew where they would go - north, somewhere.

In alternating chapters, readers meet Harry Vincent, aspiring screenwriter of Hollywood movies in 1923. He hasn’t attracted attention yet as a writer, but he is close to the action. He is working as an assistant to a Hollywood screenwriter, Rachel Gold. But mostly he writes titles on cards to help movie audiences understand the action happening on the screen. Before this job, he was a journalist for a small town newspaper.

When Harry gets a note inviting him to a mansion for a meeting with the wealthy owner of the movie studio where he is working, Daman Ira Chance, he is thrilled. But he isn’t so thrilled with what Chance wants from him, nor is he so thrilled with Chance himself. First, he realizes Chance is a peculiar man. The job Chance wants him to do is peculiar too. Chance wants him to find an old cowboy by the name of Shorty McAdoo. McAdoo is reputed to be a real Old West cowboy unlike most of the cowboys who hang about waiting to be hired for Hollywood westerns. Chance saw McAdoo in a group of extras hired to be background walk-ons for a western picture which was being made. Struck by his looks, Chance asked around about him and learned McAdoo might indeed be the real thing. There were rumors he had fought Indians for real in his past. Chance wants Harry to find him and interview him about his life. Chance has already tried to contact McAdoo but the ancient cowboy doesn’t want anything to do with Chance’s scheme of making a movie about his life. Harry’s job is to find where McAdoo is living and convince him to talk, after which Harry is to write a script.

Nothing in Harry’s life has prepared Harry for any of this, but he makes an effort, driven by the hope of a promotion and lots more money. But he feels slimed by indications Chance will be writing a Hollywood version of McAdoo’s life, changing the facts to suit Chance’s idea of the American Dream.

I liked the novel. The writing is literary, and the story is illuminating. The real Wild West was not really very romantic or very nice. While the characters of Chance and Harry are familiar types to me, I had never really thought about the role of actors in creating a false impression of facts through their acting. We all know movie studios emphasize those aspects of a story of in-depth explorations and historical facts into “if it bleeds, it leads” storytelling. But it is the celebrity aura of actors in movies that actually sell the abridged scripts to us! This is a point in the book.

Anyway. The book has many morals about Hollywood storytelling along with others, but it wasn't too distracting, at least to me. It's an interesting story based on historical facts.

Below is a link to a Wikipedia article about the murders:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Hills_Massacre

For book club. Review to follow when I do for the newsletter.

This novel weaves two stories together. The first is of Shorty McAdoo, a cowboy from the 1870's in southern Canadian prairies, who witnessed the Cypress Hills Massacre of 23 Nakota. The second is of Harry Vincent, an aspiring writer in early 1920's in Hollywood, who is tasked with finding Shorty and writing down his story. The main characters weren't that likeable, but there were a number of very interesting minor characters.
It's a difficult task for a writer to smoothly switch between two plots, and we often found his changes to be either too soon or too late for us.
There are more than enough tidbits of Hollywood gossip of the various big names, which illustrates very thorough research but was not always needed to advance the plot. We found it a realistic but depressing view of the west and attitudes, ending with a horrific scene that seemed to overdo for our tastes.

prvo i zadnje poglavlje dušu dalo... I would be a believer of that religion. prvo šta nas je profa pitala je "Who is the Englishman's Boy?", and without further ado, lemme just say that I won't be spoiling it for ya. jako pametno osmišljeno.
Suvremena kanadska književnost, y'all!!

Started off thinking this was the most brilliant thing I'd read in ages but actually it isn't - still pretty good though. Split between a posse of the 1870s and the glittering Hollywood set of the 1920s - the former much better than the latter, where in particular the voices are inauthentic (I don't think 'shut the fuck up' was quite the thing even among film people, in 1923). There are curious listings (in dialogue) of Hollywood scandals and starlets, which is very artificial, and a bit of the same with regard to Major English Writers... and the weirdest Shelley reference in the first chapter (a director named Bysshe who gets sacked on a film set where they're building a desert... yes, I get it.)

Anyway the descriptions of the west are very good, and the tension, in both halves, builds well, but it takes itself a bit too seriously and has that irritating Canadian thing of forever trying to explain (away) what Canada MEANS... sigh. Also I have an aversion to the pseudo-mystic ramblings of 1) men getting stoned together and 2) sub-Indian mythmaking, both of which are here.

So I fail to understand the references from others to GV as a literary genius, but still, he's not bad. I've been meaning to read him for 20 years (since he was writer in residence at my uni, though as an English major I never saw or heard him) and this book for 12 (since I bought it on my last trip home) - and will read another.

The narrative set in the 1920s is much stronger and more enjoyable. The weakness of the other narrative leaves me feeling dissatisfied.

Beautiful lyrical writing combined with a dual timeline story that builds to the very end.

This is a beautifully written, somewhat oddly-told story about the 'Old West' (1873) and changing times. Beautifully written because Vanderhaeghe curates historical detail carefully and with exquisite sensibility. The details feel real, lived in, yet quite certainly richer than they ever were. Oddly told, because it is essentially the narrative of a man, Harry Vincent, who in 1953 decides to tell the story of that Old West, and of the irrevocable changes that shape our lives, by revisiting his experiences as a Hollywood titles writer in the silent film era of 1923 who was recruited by a movie mogul, Damon Ira Chance, to track down and get the story of Shorty McAdoo, the "last" of the true cowboys in that Old West era.

See what I mean? It's not clear why Harry decides to tell his story now, and the narrative largely proceeds as alternating chapters: Shorty's tale in 1873 when he is known as the "Englishman's boy" because he is gun bearer to and Englishman at the outset of that tale ... but he is still called that (by the narrator) after he moves on quickly from those duties and joins a posse of Americans who are trying to track down Indians who stole their horses (apparently based on historical facts) to form the major storyline in the book; and Harry's tale in 1923 when his employer, Chance, needs Harry to convince Shorty to tell him "his story" (unknown story to that point) which Chance believes will be the basis of the epic film he has planned. A masterpiece that only later does he explain will serve his ulterior motives. Once in a while, we get 1953 Harry interjecting about 1923's Harry's exploits concerning McAdoo's exploits of 1873. Not my favourite aspect of the book.

The book is especially brisk and fresh at the outset, but sags somewhat before mid-point as McAdoo and the posse face tribulations, eventually travelling to Canada. There are too many scenes of this ilk (or maybe having read The Good Lord Bird and Blood Meridian recently these scenes are simply too familiar and repetitive for me: riders encountering the elements and possible hostilities in a harsh landscape of the Old West).
Unfortunately, Vanderhaeghe also starts dropping broad hints about a tragic end to this 1873 endeavour (the fate of a "girl") and it becomes clear that this will be revealed at the end. This feels manipulative when he drops that hint for maybe the third or fourth time. He wants us to know there will be a big "payoff" and that is an event that culminates with a notorious incident that took place in Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan. I will also say this: I don't think those action scenes are the best written parts of the book; sometimes I had to re-read what were confusing bits.

Also, there were a couple of times where the book could have used a bit of an edit, scenes that served to slow the narrative flow but were meant to display the historical detail of the time, e.g., details of an Assiniboine village or trading post were too extensive, making me feel the author wanted me to know that he did his research -- which he clearly did -- yet brought the story to a near-halt. Yet that's a minor quibble and given the genre, historical fiction, undoubtedly there are readers who prefer over-inclusion of such historical detail.

Meanwhile back to Harry in 1923, he encounters obstacles in getting McAdoo's story that don't always ring true, but seem stacked in his way for purposes of conflict. McAdoo is, however, a very compelling character. There's a nice subplot with Harry's beautiful Jewish co-worker, Rachel, who betrays a wit worthy of Dorothy Parker. The movie eventually gets made and results in a (for me) not entirely believable incident at the premiere.

For whatever its minor flaws, however, this was an exceedingly well-written, entertaining and readable book.

A thoughtful page turner and a judgement on the process of movie making.

Read the trilogy....

A raucous, never-put-down, class 'A' read with loads of history from different decades past, covering the length of Can-America.