8 h 49 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A stranger enters a lonely cabin, and June Tolliver sees fear in her father’s face.
June lives with her father, Pete Tolliver, beside Piceance Creek, far from other women and close to a secret she cannot name. She cooks venison and makes biscuits while he tends the cattle. Then Jake Houck arrives. His stare unsettles her, and his claim to an old friendship with Pete brings no comfort.
Pete’s alarm tells June that this visitor holds power over him. Houck talks about their cattle-branding days, while June searches her memories of Brown’s Park for clues. In The Fighting Edge, William MacLeod Raine brings frontier danger into the home. Houck promises another visit, and June faces a threat her father seems unable to resist.
What you’ll discover
- A girl with spirit June meets Houck’s unwelcome attention with anger, pride, and a sharp reply.
- A visitor with leverage Jake Houck’s easy confidence makes Pete’s strained welcome feel all the more alarming.
- Memories that trouble June A mother’s grave and a stern aunt linger behind June’s questions about her father.
- Frontier life up close A hillside corral, worn boots, and a cottonwood fire give this remote home texture.
- Courage under pressure Explore a harsh cattle-country world where personal pride matters and courage must be earned.
Who will love it
Readers who love cowboy country, bunkhouse humor and old frontier towns will enjoy it. So will anyone who likes a young hero who grows into his courage, a spirited heroine, and a villain worth watching.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Ragged Girl and a Stranger
- A Secret Used as a Chain
- A Pistol, a Buckboard, a Wedding
- The White Feather and the Storm
- Mollie, Blister, and a Hanging Averted
- Bronc, Ute Feast, and a Friend
- A Bully, a Winter, a Mad Dog, a War
- What the Book Says About Courage
- How the Story Is Told
Who’s who
- June TolliverA sixteen-year-old mountain girl with a fierce temper and a deadly aim, who wants freedom from Houck and a place where she belongs.
- Bob DillonA red-haired orphan who fears trouble and wants to become the brave man he admires, and to win back June's respect.
- Jake HouckA big, hook-nosed Brown's Park cattleman who knows Pete's secret and wants June as his wife, whatever she says.
- Pete TolliverJune's weak, gentle father, an escaped convict living under another name, who wants only to protect his daughter and stay hidden.
- Blister HainesThe enormous, stuttering justice of the peace who marries the pair and spends the year giving Bob advice and a push.
- Dud HollisterA cheerful, fair-haired cowboy who laughs at danger and decides, against his wishes, to make a man of Bob.
- Mollie GillespieThe cigar-smoking owner of the Bear Cat House, tender with the sick and lost, and the person who keeps June safe.
- HarshawThe owner of the Slash Lazy D, a weathered, fair-minded cattleman who judges his riders by what they do.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 49 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Fighting Edge
by William MacLeod Raine · 1922
A ragged girl points a six-shooter at the man who holds her father's secret.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Fighting Edge is a western novel by William MacLeod Raine. It is set in the cattle country of western Colorado, along the Rio Blanco, in the years after the Meeker massacre.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Ragged Girl and a Stranger
The novel opens at sunset in a cabin on Piceance Creek, deep in the Colorado hills. June Tolliver, nearly sixteen, stands in the doorway in a dingy dress, torn stockings and heavy brogans, her black hair blowing wild. She lives alone with her father Pete, a trapper and small-time rancher. Their nearest neighbor is a trapper on Eighteen-Mile Hill, and month after month she sees no other woman.
June lives next to a secret she feels is shameful but can only guess at. She remembers a sweet, dark-eyed mother who is now a pile of stones in Brown's Park. She remembers a stern aunt in Rawlins, Wyoming, and a night when a gaunt, frightened man called himself her father. Her father never speaks of those years, and she has learned not to ask.
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What is The Fighting Edge about?
It follows June Tolliver, a lonely mountain girl, and Bob Dillon, a timid orphan, in cattle country on the Rio Blanco in Colorado. A bully pushes June toward marriage, and Bob must learn what courage means.
Who is Blister Haines in The Fighting Edge?
Blister Haines is the huge, bald, stuttering justice of the peace in Bear Cat. He marries June and Bob and then coaches Bob with homespun advice, telling him that he is made in the image of God.
Where and when is The Fighting Edge set?
It takes place in western Colorado, around the town of Bear Cat and the Rio Blanco country, a few years after the Meeker massacre. The cattle drives, bunkhouses and Ute troubles reflect the real frontier.
The author
William MacLeod Raine
1871–1954 · American Western novelist
William MacLeod Raine (1871–1954) was an American novelist born in London, England. He moved to the United States in childhood and later lived in Denver, Colorado. He wrote Western and adventure novels in the first half of the twentieth century. His books include The Highgrader and Oh, You Tex!
More by William MacLeod Raine
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