Borderlands is a 1991 children's historical novel by author Peter Carter

Peter Carter (author)

Peter Carter was a British writer of children's books who won several awards: the Guardian Award, the Young Observer Fiction Award, twice, and the German Preis der Leseratten...

Originally published in the UK in 1990 as Leaving Cheyenne, it is a study of the American West in 1871 as seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy.

Plot

“Borderlands”, is a 1991 novel by British author, Peter Carter. The western oriented novel tells the story of young, and somewhat naïve, Ben Curtis, an orphan who lost both his mother and his brother at an early age. The story spans across several decades of the late 1880s and early 1900’s, as Ben learns the harsh brutal lessons of the Texas and the rise and fall of famous Kansas boom towns like Abilene and Dodge City. The overall plot of the novel was broken into four sections, all of which tell crucial life changing events in Ben’s life. Throughout the novel, Ben is plagued by sudden, abrupt changes in his lifestyle, and even more sudden deaths as the wild west quickly changes into modern society of the 20th century.

Part I: Getting Along

The novel begins in Texas, in the year 1871, in the fictional, rural, area of Clement County. Beauregard (Bo) Curtis, and his younger brother Benjamin (Ben), and their widowed mother are struggling to keep their farm afloat in the tough economic times of the late 1800’s. But during the summer of 1870, their mother dies, leaving the two brothers are left to take care of the family farm alone. Bo and Ben hope to receive help from their estranged sister Flo, but to dismay they discover Flo is now married, and has turned her back on their family, leaving them to suffer in poverty alone. However the brothers are soon discover that their poor mother owed money to the local preacher, Tyler, and are soon evicted, left to fend for themselves on the harsh prairie. Completely broke, and now without a home, the two brothers set out for the town of Lookout in hope of getting jobs, working on Sam Clark’s cattle drive. However when they arrive in Lookout, they discover that they missed the Cattle Drive by three days. However the town marshal soon informs them that they can catch Joe Dutton’s cattle drive if they hurry.

Bo and Ben quickly ride out onto the Texas range, hoping to catch up to Dutton, so they can join the cattle drive. The two are reluctantly hired by Dutton, and are then equipped with shot guns, spurs, thick leather boots, cowboy hats, and belts. During the cattle drive, the two brothers bond with the other cowhands, and their African American cook. Throughout the drive, Ben begins to gain respect for black Americans, and stops referring to them as just “niggers”, but instead by the cook’s real name, Tom Arnold. The cattle drive slowly makes it way across the desert plains, crossing over the entire state Texas, through snow and rain, and sand storms. Soon, after half a year, the cattle drive arrives in the town of boom town Abilene, Kansas, on June 13, 1871. They men are soon paid, and set out for town in hopes of having some fun. But to Ben’s horror, Bo is soon shot in the back by a man named Dutch Kessel over a crooked card game. After Bo’s funeral, the cattle drive soon sets out for the next town in order to complete the run. However, Ben - heartbroken over the death of the last of his family - decides to stay in Abilene, so that he can avenge Bo’s death - by killing Dutch Kessel.

Part II: Making It

Ben Curtis begins to contemplate how he would get his revenge on his brother’s murderer, how he would gun him down. Whether to challenge him to a gun fight, or simply shoot him in the back like he did with Bo. But to Ben’s dismay, Dutch Kessel fled town the night before after he murdered Bo. Ben considers hunting Kessel down, and challenging him to a gunfight, but the town marshal, Wild Bill Hickok warns Ben to stay out of trouble and not to try to take the law into his own hands, or else he would shoot him on the spot. Ben reluctantly obeys Hickok, intimidated by the tough, hardened, marshal, and gets a job at the local store as a shopkeeper. Ben finds his new job degrading, a job fit for women. Making matters worse, his boss, Jacob Besser, and his daughter Goblinka, are foreign immigrants, causing Ben to further disrespect them. Ben begins to look back on his life, wondering where it all went wrong. However, Ben soon grows used to his new life quiet in Abilene, his thoughts about Dutch Kessel fading more and more each day. After nearly two years working in Abilene, Ben forgets about his vow to avenge Bo, and befriends his neighbor, and chess partner Henry, an immigrant from Germany. Ben suspects that Henry is a communist, and an arsonist, but doesn’t ask him, worried about jeopardizing their friendship.

But Ben’s life is disrupted yet again, when Marshall Hickok informs Ben that Dutch Kessel has been shot dead, in St. Louis, Missouri. Ben soon discovers that he is now a local celebrity, even though he had nothing to do with Kessel’s death. Finally free from his vow to avenge Bo, Ben gets a whole new leash on life, a newfound sense of freedom, and multiple future job opportunities. Ben eventually decides to go into business with Besser, selling cowboy hats to town people. With his newfound fame on his side, Ben’s hat business quickly lifts off the ground, and he begins to wonder about a future as being a businessman, like Besser. But the town of Abilene quickly begins to change, the town’s outlook beginning to change more and more as people continued to town. Abilene was quickly becoming a ghost town. To make matters worse, Henry announces to Ben that he’s going to go live with his sister in New York City, and confirms Ben’s thoughts about his communism. However, Ben soon discovers that he doesn’t care, and says good-bye to his only friend in town. Ben visits Bo’s grave one last time and pays his respects. His last few ties to Abilene now gone, Ben boards a train, and leaves town, departing for the currently growing town of Dodge City, Kansas, to set up a fur business with Jacob Besser’s brother, Brusik.

Part III: Busted

Ben Curtis arrives in the famous town of Dodge City, Kansas, and discovers that the town is nothing like the rumors said it would be. Instead of a boom town, Ben finds a town just barely getting started, and is run rampant with crime. Worried about his own safety, Ben considers going back to Abilene, but changes his mind finally meets Brusik Besser, his new business partner. Ben soon opens a successful fur selling business, and soon get used to the wild life of Dodge City. But shortly after starting his business, Ben is almost robbed a pair of bandits, but manages to chase them away. After the close encounter, they decide to hire bodyguards to watch over the guards, but are shocked to discover the men they hire are nothing more than thugs for hires. Still, faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to be the victim or the fighter, Ben and Brusik decide to keep the men under hire. Ben soon becomes wealthy as his business grows more successful, and keeps a hidden supply of money underneath the floorboards of his office. But when the stock market crashes in the year 1873, Ben is forced into bankruptcy. To Ben’s horror and anger, he is forced to leave his store (and the money that he had hid underneath it), when it is bought by a man named Tom Stokes.

Part IV: Killing Times

Broke and homeless yet again - like all those years ago when he was only a 13 year old boy in Clement County, only this time without his older brother Bo to guide him - Ben Curtis quickly hits rock bottom. But when Ben’s life seems to be unraveling before his eyes, another opportunity suddenly appears. Ben soon get a job working with his new boss, Sam Dawson and his co-worker Abel, skinning buffalo for their hides and then selling their furs to make a stable living. Ben is miserable in his new job, going from riches to rags again so quickly, but he manages to survive on the Texas prairie. After a few months, despite the rumors of him being wanted by the Pinkerton family of bounty hunters for owing money to the bank, Ben eagerly returns to Dodge city in hopes of retrieving the money that he hid underneath his store’s floorboards. But Ben is shocked to find that it’s gone, the money way taken shortly after he left, but not by Tom Stokes. Angry, bitter, and confused, Ben returns to his demeaning job as a skinner with Sam. But to Ben’s delight, Sam soon tells him of a plan to move to the state of California, and retire together. But when the group stops just outside the California border, between the Rocky Mountains and the sunny beaches of California, to Ben’s horror, they discover Dutch Kessel is still alive.

The story of Dutch Kessel’s demise back in St. Louis was just a rumor, and in fact, Dutch Kessel was camping nearby, in the next camp. Kessel learns of Ben’s location from a bunch of local cowhands, and tracks him down. Determined to get to Ben, Kessel shoots Sam, killing him in cold blood. Ben manages to escape Kessel on horseback, but quickly realizes that he has no way to defend himself from Kessel’s wrath. Kessel then chases Ben across the plains, and into a winter snowstorm. After hours of running, Kessel eventually corners Ben, and reveals that he had been haunted by the memory of Ben for years, worried that Ben would someday return to kill him. Ben tries to reason with Kessel, but Kessel ignores him, and withdraws his shot gun. But just as Ben is about die, Kessel is stabbed and skewered to death by a native American war party. In the aftermath of his traumatic night, Ben eventually gives up on his dream to move to California. Now that Sam had died, it has lost all it’s meaning. With all his friends and family now dead, the now adult Ben decides to live with Henry (The man he met in Abilene) in New York. Ben spends the rest of his life in New York, the last surviving cowboy from the wild, (and rapidly changing) western frontier.

Reception

Bryan Wooley of Entertainment Weekly praised the novel, "Carter has done his research. His portrayal of the tedium, filth, and barbarism of the frontier are vivid and realistic. What the tale lacks is dramatic tension, probably because Ben tells his story in a folksy, corn-pone voice that, over 424 pages, becomes wearisome. B-".

The New York Times Children's Bookshelf briefly noted it as "a realistic Western".