Wow. This is an incredible book! I borrowed this from a friend, and come payday, I'm buying my own copy. More than once I was late to work, having to finish one last chapter. I've never read anything by Emma Bull before, but I plan to get my hands on as much as possible now.
Told from three different viewpoints (Jesse, Mildred, and Doc Holiday), Territory is a captivating tale about Tombstone, the Earp brothers, and the people caught in their power struggles. A wonderful job was done weaving magic into a period of history without. There were a couple times when I wasn't sure if magic was being used to cause this or that to happen. The twists and turns the plot takes as Jesse tries to not only come to terms with his gift, but solve a gruesome murder kept me from putting this book down.
Jesse Fox is a drifter that wanders into town around the time the Wells Fargo stage is robbed. Mildred Benjamin is a widow working as a typesetter for one of the local papers with a hope of becoming a writer. And Doc Holiday is the man from the legends. A picture is painted with their 3 voices of what life was like in the old west; the outsider, the woman, and the lawman. Jesse tries to stay uninvolved, with no real attachment to the people of Tombstone unless forced. Mildred gets an inside look at the lives of the Earp women when she befriends them. Holiday is the unique view of a dying man who wants to do right by his friend, but sometimes wonders about which side they are on. They weave in and out, drawing you into a story of what might have been.