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Frank Kelso
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The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn (The Apprentice Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Frank Kelso (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,174 ratings
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Nigel’s easy life crumbled with the plunk of a painted arrow into his father's chest. Alone on the prairie, his choice is work or starve—apprentice on a mule-train or an orphanage. Which is worse?

When his family falls victim to a brutal Comanche attack, Nigel's life changed forever. While he escaped the slaughter, the rest of his loved ones didn't. Plump, spoiled, and lazy, the preacher's son finds himself alone, struggling to survive on the wild frontier.

When Pascal, leader of a mule train, stumbles upon the smoking wagons, he offers Nigel a ride in exchange for hard labor. With little choice, Nigel accepts the promise of food and shelter for work. At 13, he believes cooking is a woman's work—it's his sisters' job. Pascal, a defrocked priest, solves the problem, and makes Nigel the cook's helper. Spurred onward by his desire to avenge his murdered family, he endures grueling days and countless painful lessons.

One lesson is to learn to understand another man's life. Pascal leaves Nigel with the Cheyenne people to learn their ways and become a man. Can Nigel survive long enough to find justice for his lost family or will the Wild West claim yet another victim?

The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn is the first dramatic story in the Apprentice series of coming-of-age westerns. If you like rich descriptions, multidimensional characters, and tales bringing history to life, you’ll love Frank Kelso's coming-of-age novel set in 1853 Texas.

Buy The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn to journey through the old West.
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  1. Book 1 of 3
    The Apprentice Series
  2. Print length
    321 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    October 18, 2017
  6. File size
    1140 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

KIRKUS REVIEWS
A coming-of-age novel tellsthe story of an orphaned boy learning to survive in the Old West.
In 1853, the Blackthornfamily arrives in West Texas from Wales so that its patriarch, the Methodistminister John, can spread the gospel of Jesus to the "wild heathens on theuntamed prairies." But his would-be flock has other ideas, and a Comancheattack leaves everyone in the family dead except for 13-year-old Nigel, whohides in the hollow stump of a tree. When the muleteer Pascal LeBrun wandersthrough the burned-out campsite a day later, he mistakes the lone survivor fora ghost: "A black apparition rose unsteadily from the funeral pyre--a waveringshadow in the fading light. Ashes scattered as the ghost-like wraith rose,becoming a smoky, wavering illusion." LeBrun, a defrocked priest, rescues theboy, though he makes him work for his food--something that the spoiled Nigel hasnot had to do up to this point. Life on the prairie is hard for anyone. For adoughy orphan apprentice to a French-speaking muleteer, it's doubly difficult.Nigel will have to get tough if he wants to seek revenge on the raiders whokilled his family, but first he'll have to learn how to navigate his new lifeas a trader on the frontier. In this series opener, Kelso (California Bound,2017, etc.) writes in a measured prose that deftly summons the diction andtexture of life on the prairie in the mid-19th century: "Pascal rode in silencewhile he glanced at the mules before studying the nearby plains. By summer'smiddle, the rolling prairie had dried, withering to various shades of brownfrom light tan to dark-brown wallows." The story is a fairly straightforwardone and, in its focus on skill acquisition and personal growth, is reminiscentof teenage novels from an earlier era. (Its depiction of Native Americans aswise bestowers of nicknames and ancient knowledge is a less endearingthrowback.) LeBrun and Nigel make a compelling pair, and readers should lookforward to the orphan's further adventures.
A mostly enjoyable,old-school Western.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07627JJGM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beachfront Press (October 18, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 18, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1140 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,174 ratings

About the author

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Frank Kelso

Frank Kelso

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Frank Kelso grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, the origin of the Santa Fe Trail. Historic sites, monuments, and statues abound highlighting the journey west, including the Wagons West, Pioneer Women and the Indian Scout located on the bluffs overlooking the wide Missouri. Writing western themed books fit in with his upbringing. His parents considered storytelling a family tradition and the taller the tale, the better, when sharing around the supper table. A biomedical research scientist in his day job, Frank writes short stories and novels to keep the family traditions alive. He enjoys living on an island on the Alabama Gulf Coast at the Florida border. Can you say Flora-Bama Beach Bar? Welcome to Paradise Island: sunny days, sugar white sands, turquoise blue water, fishing, and smooth sailing. Come on down, Y’all.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,174 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Réal Laplaine
5.0 out of 5 stars Existence in the pioneering west, beautifully and realistically rendered
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2018
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The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn by Frank Kelso. Five stars! My favorite western author has always been Louis L'Amour - but I think, in reading The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn, that author Frank Kelso has just ranked up with him. In this narrative, Kelso manages to tell a simple tale about Nigel Blackthorn, a young boy whose missionary family is slaughtered on their way to a new life in the West, and who is plucked up from destitution by a French trader, Pascal, who roams the west with caravans of goods. Pascal, the wiley yet street-smart trader, sees something in Nigel, and takes him under his wing and starts him on a rigorous regimen to learn about survival, life, being a man, as well as educating him on the arts. The dialogue is real, sincere, compelling and, in the vein of L'Amour's books, Kelso also teaches the reader about survival in the rugged west. How to find food, how to find water, how to avoid dangers, how to exist in a beautiful yet brutal land where death is just a snake-bite away. The characters are wonderfully developed, each with their foibles and quirks. The story line, though simple and sometimes appearing uneventful, parallels life as it must have been while trying to traverse and tame a land as big as the American west. The final chapter of Nigel's apprenticeship is unique and beautifully rendered - capturing a piece of the native culture of the Redmen (not Indians as the author correctly points out) in a way that makes one yearn that simplicity, that pure unadulterated existence before the invasion of the white man debased an entire culture.
10 people found this helpful
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Patricia E. Jackson
5.0 out of 5 stars Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019
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The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn is a great read. I usually don't read westerns but I enjoyed this book very much. I'm looking forward to reading book II. Gives great insight into what the plains Native Americans and the 1850's frontier were like. The hardships and beliefs of "The People" (Cheyenne) as told by the author was fascinating to me. A very believable tail of the western frontier of the 1850's. It reiterates how immoral the so-called white men of the western frontier were.
4 people found this helpful
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Frank Watson - Writer
4.0 out of 5 stars Sharing an Apprenticeship into Being a Muleteer and Becoming a Man
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2018
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Remember back in high school English they taught us that there were three main types of plots: Man against Man, Man Against Nature, and Man Against Himself. Curiously, I have found few novels of the Man Against Himself variety. I can, however, now add one to that list: THE APPRENTICESHIP OF NIGEL BLACKTHORN by Frank Kelso.

While the action in this (young adult?) book involves the life of thirteen-year-old Nigel Blackthorn after his family is massacred by Indians, the main plot really involves Nigel having to wrestle with his own ideas, beliefs, and upbringing.

Nigel is befriended, and apprenticed, by Pascal and LaFleur, two of the more interesting characters I’ve come across in recent westerns. The two are muleteers on the prairies in the early 1850s. What makes them interesting is that they are also former Jesuits who were kicked out of the order for giving in to their desires for women, whiskey, and other earthly pleasures. In spite of that, they retain some of their spiritual training. It makes for an interesting combination.

Nigel is the somewhat spoiled (and naïve) son of a Methodist minister. He starts out lazy and a whiner. His first challenge is to overcome these negative character traits in order to survive the new, harsh life on the prairie. This takes up much of the book.

Along the way Kelso provides a fascinating introduction into the trade of the two muleteers.

Nigel must also overcome his hatred of all Indians. This comes about when he is required to spend a summer with a Cherokee tribe. As a result, he becomes almost Indian. Nigel also starts to learn to be a man.

This would be an enjoyable story for any age reader, though be aware that as Nigel approaches adulthood, some very adult themes are discussed in the context of Indian culture, which might make some readers uncomfortable.
12 people found this helpful
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MonnaMia
5.0 out of 5 stars I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2018
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This genre is far removed from my usual interests, but I am so glad I got to read it. The events in the book are believable, and it is obvious that Mr. Kelso and done his due diligence on the lives and times of the characters. I was so enamoured by the story that I could hardly stay away and even got in some daytime reading which I rarely do. My only regret is that Nigel's story was not carried further, but maybe that will happen in a future book?
3 people found this helpful
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pete
5.0 out of 5 stars The apprenticeship of Nigel Blackhorn
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2019
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This was an interesting book about Mule Train trade as opposed to wagon train trade tha evolved later. It had its share of Indian raids and the attempt of traders to get along with all the tribes . Basic story of a young boy from England that was the only survivor of an Indian raid that killed his family. He was adopted by a former Jesuit mule trinity trader. He later spent a few months with a Cheyenne Tribe that would liked to have adopted him.
3 people found this helpful
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Ranch Ryder
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant Read
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2020
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History written into a wonderful read! If you enjoy history of this American time period, here is a novel very worthwhile. I wasn't sure this book was for me this first chapter or two, but I'm glad I read on because I could not stop reading. This is definitely a keeper for the library. I highly recommend this and the second book that continues the story.
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2022
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Thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. It gives an insight into the lives of the early pioneers,and their relationship with Redman . How a young orphan comes of age.
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Keith Crossland
5.0 out of 5 stars DOWN TO EARTH TALE.
Reviewed in Canada on October 5, 2019
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Very interesting story. The young Nigel learns what it takes to become a man in the muleteer's world, and also in the redmen's camps. He begins to understand what a promise means, and also how hard work is a big part of a man's education. Frank is obviously somewhat of a philosopher as this aspect of a man's life came through clearly to me. An excellent yarn which I gladly rate as well worth 5 stars.
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Kindle-Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in Germany on March 7, 2019
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Written and describing very well how the live of those living in this part of the west must have been. Su
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D.L.R
5.0 out of 5 stars The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn
Reviewed in Australia on October 14, 2019
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What a fantastic story! I enjoyed this book more than any other book I have read. This story takes you back to the 1800’s when the United States had buffalo that roamed the plains, the native Indians were free. The story is about a young boy who looses his family from the Cheyenne. He learns how to survive.

Absolutely enjoyed how the Author told the story, you will feel bad for Nigel and you will laugh at some of the lessons he learns.
I highly recommend this book!
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John MacDonald
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read and history lesson
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2020
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A good read and a history lesson on the Plains Indian to boot. Characters are well developed and interesting. The book has a flow to it. Some would consider it a slow read but I love the old west and found it very informative.
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