Free Men

In Smith's illuminating second novel (after The Story of Land and Sea), located in the unsettled post-Revolutionary American South, a ragtag trio is on the run. Bob tells stories to block out the sorrow of his early life as a slave. Cat is a murderer who meets Bob in a failed attempt to rob him. The unlikely pair then meets Istillicha, a Creek Indian bent on regaining his role as chief. The three kill six men for the bags of coins they carry because the money means freedom for them all. LeClerc, an educated French journalist interested in Native American culture, is hired to track them down. Over a span of ten days, each man relates his tragic past, which is undeniably woven into the history of the young country, and his hopes. Istillicha can recover his chiefdom in a country increasingly not his own. Bob can buy a farm and send for his woman, Winna. Cat can head West and escape the memories of his abusive father. LeClerc keeps copious notes for later publication to better understand how three vastly different men traveled together in such camaraderie only to have one among them pay the ultimate price.