Fall back to a good western!

Painted Horses
Malcolm Brooks
This is a debut historical novel of an extraordinary, talented writer. I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this review, although I have mentioned this book to everyone I know this past month! I had an early ARC copy, but found it difficult to read, and yet I loved the evocative feeling of place and emotion, the lyrical prose. It wasn't until I got a hard copy edition that I understood my problem: while it is not stream of consciousness, it is a distinctive grammatical style that I can't characterize. Once I had my defined pages, the story leapt off the page at a breathtaking pace.
There's a great sense of place and time/era. This is the 1950's American West, in all it's grandeur, it's last gasp of wilderness and cowboys, before urbanization and habitat /ecological destruction.
An easterner, a young archeologist Catherine Lemay,  who has trained in London, working with the Smithsonian, is sent to Montana in 1956 to catalogue/document a canyon slated in a few weeks for the construction of a hydroelectric dam. She is out of her depth but gathers a sense of the west, the loss of ancient sacred native sites, and tries to find evidence that will prevent the dam being built. She is being manipulated and becomes angry, frustrated, and digs in. She has found her life's cause.
She meets John, a veteran of the US Army Calvary WWII struggling with the horrors of war while rescuing mustangs. He also is an amazing artist who captures their elusive, untamed spirit. I seriously want one of his paintings.
This is a complex tale, sprawling saga in fine American tradition, that makes you weep for what has been lost. This is a powerful love story a la Hemingway, of the people, but more of the land.  It is well researched, rich in detail (and accurate botany and geology!), poignant, memorable historical detail, with a penetrating message currently relevant.

If you like westerns, the west, the old west, horses, Americana, read on.
If you like the novels of John D. McDonald, Cormac McCarthy, Jim Harrison or Annie Proulx, read on.
If you live in the west, don't hesitate to read this.
4 stars
Digital ARC from NetGalley