True Grit
Why this book?
After my first book came out, I was interviewed by a local reporter. When he asked what influenced me to write western fiction, I told him I really didn’t know. Why had I been compelled to write a story told by an old man about his younger days spent chasing those who murdered his brother? Then, I remembered, at eleven years old, I had read True Grit. A tale of revenge; a teen-aged girl, strong-willed, saddled up with an old, one-eyed codger of a US marshal hellbent on finding her father’s killer, as told through the voice of an aging woman. Portis wrote a simple tale with elegant prose with the use of first-person narrative. His influence had stayed with me all those years, buried deep, to be released through my own words, inspiring Zebadiah Creed’s voice, and his story.