The Unforgiven
by Alan Le May
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The Texas Panhandle was a harsh and unforgiving place, but the Zachary family managed to get by. Until their world was upended by an old enemy who started a vicious rumor about the true identity of beautiful seventeen-year-old Rachel Zachary.Tags
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Alan LeMay, even if he had written nothing else, would be long remembered as a very fine writer of western novels because of his two best: The Searchers and The Unforgiven. The Searchers, of course, was made into a much loved John Wayne movie, and in 1960 The Unforgiven was made into a film starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn. Both the book and film versions of The Unforgiven are somewhat overshadowed by those of The Searchers, but, in a way, their stories are almost mirror images of each other.
In The Searchers, a white child has been stolen by Indians and her family is determined to rescue the young woman from the “savages.” In The Unforgiven, a Kiowa child has been stolen by a white family, and when the Indians learn the show more origin of the young woman, they demand her return to the tribe. Both books focus heavily on the racial prejudice that was so commonly inflicted upon American Indians by the very people determined to steal their homelands from them. The resulting conflict was both brutal and bloody, with atrocities perpetrated by both sides. What makes LeMay’s writing special, is that he gives equal weight to both points-of-view.
The Zachary family has come to Texas for a new beginning and they are determined to hang onto their land and the way of life they have carved out for themselves. Now, however, because of the drowning of the family patriarch on a recent cattle drive, they must look to Ben, the eldest of three brothers and one sister, for the leadership their father used to provide. Ben proves himself to be a competent enough ranch manager, but when an old family nemesis shows up and begins spreading rumors about the Zachary daughter, things take an ugly turn.
Soon, the leaders of a group of Kiowa warriors that raids this part of the Texas territory with the coming of each full moon begins scouting the ranch in order to get a closer look at the girl they suspect might be a baby lost to the tribe years earlier. And if the Kiowa decide that the young woman belongs to them, the Zacharys know that they will fight to the death to bring her home to the tribe.
Most westerns written in the 1950s were closer to the pulp westerns of the late-1800s than to serious western fiction. Alan LeMay’s work is one exception to the rule. LeMay’s The Unforgiven can, in fact, be called a “literary novel,” and he spends as much time here developing his Kiowa characters as he does his main white characters. By looking at the conflict through two very different sets of eyes, what the author describes at the novel’s climax feels both inevitable and tragic. In the real world of post-Civil War Texas, it was unlikely to end any other way. show less
In The Searchers, a white child has been stolen by Indians and her family is determined to rescue the young woman from the “savages.” In The Unforgiven, a Kiowa child has been stolen by a white family, and when the Indians learn the show more origin of the young woman, they demand her return to the tribe. Both books focus heavily on the racial prejudice that was so commonly inflicted upon American Indians by the very people determined to steal their homelands from them. The resulting conflict was both brutal and bloody, with atrocities perpetrated by both sides. What makes LeMay’s writing special, is that he gives equal weight to both points-of-view.
The Zachary family has come to Texas for a new beginning and they are determined to hang onto their land and the way of life they have carved out for themselves. Now, however, because of the drowning of the family patriarch on a recent cattle drive, they must look to Ben, the eldest of three brothers and one sister, for the leadership their father used to provide. Ben proves himself to be a competent enough ranch manager, but when an old family nemesis shows up and begins spreading rumors about the Zachary daughter, things take an ugly turn.
Soon, the leaders of a group of Kiowa warriors that raids this part of the Texas territory with the coming of each full moon begins scouting the ranch in order to get a closer look at the girl they suspect might be a baby lost to the tribe years earlier. And if the Kiowa decide that the young woman belongs to them, the Zacharys know that they will fight to the death to bring her home to the tribe.
Most westerns written in the 1950s were closer to the pulp westerns of the late-1800s than to serious western fiction. Alan LeMay’s work is one exception to the rule. LeMay’s The Unforgiven can, in fact, be called a “literary novel,” and he spends as much time here developing his Kiowa characters as he does his main white characters. By looking at the conflict through two very different sets of eyes, what the author describes at the novel’s climax feels both inevitable and tragic. In the real world of post-Civil War Texas, it was unlikely to end any other way. show less
A story about belonging, in-group and out-group. Small world-building details about frontier life feel authentic and told with a cinematic eye. Indians treated with extreme prejudice, over the top, as is the gore. The inter-family romance is kind of creepy. Follows the "code", people who do bad things get killed later. Even through the eye (Medieval symbolism for a liar). Would like to see the John Ford film which sounds like a classic.
"Unforgiven" is not the Novel from which the Clint Eastwood story about the gunfighters was drawn. "The Unforgiven" and "The Searchers" are the height of Alan Le May's writing, in my estimation. It's a considerable height.
The story is about prejudice, as a white Texan community tries to deal with the idea of integration of a possibly non-white member. The non-white is possibly an Indian, or possibly not...there's is some doubt and the family in question does seem guilty about having to conceal the story of how they got the little girl. Then there's the question of Pride, as the local natives want the girl back., or at least to see for themselves if she is an Indian. The white family is prepared to kill in defence of a family member, show more and they do so. It's a good read, and I wish that more people had read it. The Burt Lancaster - Audrey Hepburn movie, is also a good time, though differing in details. show less
The story is about prejudice, as a white Texan community tries to deal with the idea of integration of a possibly non-white member. The non-white is possibly an Indian, or possibly not...there's is some doubt and the family in question does seem guilty about having to conceal the story of how they got the little girl. Then there's the question of Pride, as the local natives want the girl back., or at least to see for themselves if she is an Indian. The white family is prepared to kill in defence of a family member, show more and they do so. It's a good read, and I wish that more people had read it. The Burt Lancaster - Audrey Hepburn movie, is also a good time, though differing in details. show less
This is a quality original Western with some slight similarities to the author's acclaimed "The Searchers". Though those of you who like their western's full of action will be disappointed in some respects, but in others it certainly does not disappoint. Well written authentic with a real feel of time and place, as a family with a long held secret try to scratch a living raising cattle in the west, living in a tiny shack half buried in the earth, and heavily fortified against Indian attack. This the scene for a claustrophobic dramatic and exciting shootout climax.
Easy and enjoyable read with a slightly racist underlying theme.
Easy and enjoyable read with a slightly racist underlying theme.
The author also wrote "The Searchers". I thought that this book was the basis for the Clint Eastwood movie with a similar title....but, no. More about the late 19th century north Texans and the Comanches. A good Western. I shouldn't say anything, but I felt a peculiar sexual quality to this story. You did too, right?
The Zachary family raise cattle on a ranch in Texas. The patriarch, Old Zack, was killed while driving cattle to market leaving his family of three sons, wife and an adopted daughter to continue. Abe Kelsey, a man who appears to be deranged because he lost his son to Kiowa Indians, blames the Zacharys for failing to trade Rachel, the adopted daughter who he claims is really part Kiowa, for his son.
Abe follows the Zachary family where ever they settle turning neighbours against them with his claims about Rachel. Eventually after years of trying, he convinces the Kiowa Indians that Rachel is a sister to one of the warriors who then put pressure on the Zacharys to return Rachel so she may be taken as a squaw by another warrior.
Made into a show more film with same title that follows the novel's story line but with a slightly modified ending. The cast includes Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn and Audie Murphy. show less
Abe follows the Zachary family where ever they settle turning neighbours against them with his claims about Rachel. Eventually after years of trying, he convinces the Kiowa Indians that Rachel is a sister to one of the warriors who then put pressure on the Zacharys to return Rachel so she may be taken as a squaw by another warrior.
Made into a show more film with same title that follows the novel's story line but with a slightly modified ending. The cast includes Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn and Audie Murphy. show less
Pretty good Western. Old movie is good too.
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35+ Works 902 Members
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Perennial Library (P58B)
Harper Perennial (P058)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Unforgiven
- Original title
- The Unforgiven
- Alternate titles
- Kiowa Moon
- Original publication date
- 1957
- People/Characters
- Rachel Zachary; Ben Zachary; Matthilda Zachary; Cassius Zachary (Cash); Andy Zachary; Abe Kelsey (show all 12); Zeb Rawlins; Hagar Rawlins; Georgia Rawlins; Charlie Rawlins; Jude Rawlins; Effie Rawlins
- Important places
- Texas, USA; Red River Valley, Texas, USA
- Important events
- Texas Panhandle Settler-Indian Conflict
- Related movies
- The Unforgiven (1960 | IMDb)
- First words
- Dancing Bird River was the Zachary family's name for a little run of live water ten miles below the Red, in the unsettled country west of the Wichita.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)When he turned back to the hearth only a crinkled black twist remained of the parchment scroll. He touched it with the toe of his bood, and it went to dust.
- Disambiguation notice
- The Unforgiven was originally published by Harper & Brothers in 1957. A shorter and somewhat different version of this book appeared serially in the Saturday Evening Post under the title "Kiowa Moon."' (LO... (show all)C.gov record for 1957 ed.)
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