num_pages: 292
description: In this magnificent novel, Cormac McCarthy fashions a darkly beautiful elegy for the American frontier.The setting is New Mexico in 1952, where John Grady Cole and Billy Parham are working as ranch hands. To the North lie the proving grounds of Alamogordo; to the South, the twin cities of El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. Their life is made up of trail drives and horse auctions and stories told by campfire light. It is a life that is about to change forever, and John Grady and Billy both know it.The catalyst for that change appears in the form of a beautiful, ill-starred Mexican prostitute. When John Grady falls in love, Billy agrees—against his better judgment—to help him rescue the girl from her suavely brutal pimp. The ensuing events resonate with the violence and inevitability of classic tragedy. Hauntingly beautiful, filled with sorrow, humor and awe, Cities of the Plain is a genuine American epic.
language: English
title: Cities of the Plain
titlecomplete: Cities of the Plain
characters: Billy Parham, John Grady Cole
genres: American, Classics, Adventure, Contemporary, Novels, Westerns, Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 25561
places: New Mexico
series: The Border Trilogy
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Dublin Literary Award
publisher: Knopf