Lucky Red

Starred review from April 1, 2023

DEBUT Cravens's debut combines classic Western tropes with a fresh perspective and fine writing. In 1877, Bridget is "Lucky Red," a pretty young redhead coming West with her father who's addicted to alcohol. He dies of a snakebite as they cross the Kansas plains, and Bridget is left to fend for herself. She finds her way to Dodge City, KS, where she is soon recruited by one of the madams at the town's only woman-owned brothel. Bridget finds the work tolerable, and the comfort of shelter and food keeps her settled. But as a girl with an eye for other pretty girls, her longings are used against her when a burgeoning relationship leads to a deep betrayal. Bridget seeks revenge and finds her own path forward. The author's familiarity with the Western genre comes through in her setting and characterizations. Featuring gunslingers, gamblers, outlaws, madams and brothel workers, this story is fast-paced, racing to an explosive conclusion. Lesbian romance plays a definitive role, with complex characters whose motivations and desires are integral to the plot. VERDICT Recommended especially for readers looking for a literary Western with compelling queer content.--Melanie Kindrachuk

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 10, 2023
Cravens debuts with an exceptional historical tale of sex work and queer desire on the American frontier. Bridget Shaughnessy, 16, lands alone in Dodge City, Kans., in 1877. She’s recently orphaned, her alcoholic and shiftless father having died from a rattlesnake bite on their way from Arkansas. Her innocent look and flaming red hair catch the attention of Lila and Kate, madams of a refined brothel called the Buffalo Queen. With no other prospects, Bridget becomes a “sporting woman” and befriends bookish and sarcastic colleague Constance. The return of Sallie, a self-assured former employee of Lila’s, sparks confusing desires in Bridget, but after Bridget impulsively intervenes to protect Sallie from a violent customer, Sallie is forced out. Heartbroken, Bridget numbly continues her work and strings along Jim Bonnie, a sheriff’s deputy who keeps the Buffalo Queen safe from moralizers and rougher patrons. After Bridget meets Spartan Lee, a gender-bending outlaw chaser, she discovers a new romance, one strong enough for her to rebuff Jim’s marriage proposal. Spartan, meanwhile, is working a con that sweeps up Bridget and the rest of the house. Cravens peppers the thrilling plot with delicious language (Bridget’s clients are “a series of hats and mustaches”; Jim’s marriage offer feels “wedged in chest, like a piece of furniture that can’t be got through a doorway”), and her sensitive portrayal of Bridget’s uncertainty over her sexuality resonates. This is a knockout. Agent: Alexa Stark, Writers House.

Starred review from April 1, 2023
Steeped in Western-genre tropes, the first 50 pages of Cravens' novel will satisfy anyone looking for an easy read, but the book is so much more. Starving, illiterate, orphaned Bridget Shaughnessy drags herself to Dodge City by sheer force of will. Quickly snapped up by brothel owners Kate and Lila, Bridget befriends sophisticated Constance and captivates the local sheriff's deputy, Jim Bonnie. And then, just as it begins to dawn on Bridget why turning tricks feels so meaningless to her, Cravens smacks the reader in the face with a genderqueer coming-of-age story that culminates in three sex workers tracking down a posse for romantic and financial revenge. The book is erotic (how else would a prostitute figure out she's a lesbian?), but Cravens also leans into Bridget's ignorance, making it the source of several pivotal moments that propel the plot forward. Cravens peppers the novel with enough foreshadowing that an astute reader could figure out the big reveal quickly. But it's just as much fun to willfully ignore the clues and hang on for dear life.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 1, 2023
Let's reexamine the lives of women in the Wild West, shall we? Bridget Shaughnessy--the extraordinary, soon-to-be-orphaned narrator of Cravens' welcome remix of a Western novel--is 16, uneducated, and impoverished when her feckless father dies after a rattlesnake bite on the trail they're taking together from Arkansas to Kansas (and a "fresh start"). Relying on intuition and one remaining mule, Bridget crosses the plains alone and winds up in Dodge City, where her story parts ways with most cowboy novels of the past. Bridget's bright red hair attracts the attention of one of the proprietors of the Buffalo Queen Saloon, an establishment devoted to fulfilling the drinking, gambling, and carnal needs of cowboys and others living and passing through the frontier city. As Bridget embarks on a career as a "sporting woman" in the rough and tumble male world of the emerging West, she receives a belated education not just in the nature of sex work, but also in her own sexuality. When she's drawn to a couple of the women she encounters at the Buffalo Queen, most notably the enigmatic gunslinger Spartan Lee, Bridget's assertion of her own needs results in unforeseen consequences for herself and the rest of the saloon's coterie. Cravens' debut novel features a singular narrator in Bridget, whose matter-of-fact approach to sex work is shaken by her growing awareness of, and desire for, actual--not transactional--intimacy. The world of the Buffalo Queen and its employees is vividly drawn, and there's a cinematic quality all the way through Bridget's life, from the possum stew she cooks over a wood fire to the red of her hair and the scarlet dress that is her work uniform. Cravens shakes the dust off tired tropes and delivers a shining example of what an old-fashioned page-turner can accomplish.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.