Title: The swansong of Wilbur McCrum /
Authors: Kita, Bronia.
Publisher: Picador,
Year: 2009
Subjects: Marginality, Social Fiction; West (U.S.) History Fiction.; West (U.S.) History Fiction.
Abstract: Wilbur McCrum is not a lucky man - a fact that becomes obvious from the moment he first emerges, screaming, into the world - for Wilbur's birth coincides with his sister's death. And as Wilbur (prone to fits and with a pathological fear of cows) grows, he subsequently loses his father, and is then abandoned by his mother. Dispossessed and passed from pillar to post, he's eventually left with no choice but to take to the road, the wind at his back and 'lucky' potato in his pocket. As he searches for a place he can call home - somewhere far away from cows (easier said than done in the Wild West) - he encounters madmen, conmen, wenches and whores; embarks on a career robbing stagecoaches (initially unwittingly); falls in love, and into a well; escapes bounty hunters and body snatchers; and becomes a librarian.