There were not a lot of stories that featured girls on a quest, right?

This is a quest.

She's in search of something.

She's the protagonist.

She's on the move.

She wasn't a bystander.

She wasn't like waiting to be rescued.

You're listening to Books We've Loved from NPR.

The book show where we reread our old favorites and tell you why they still matter today. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. And I'm B.A. Parker. What's up Parker? Nothing much, Andrew. How are you going? I feel like since we talked, have you gotten your Charles Porter's tattoo yet? You've been a super big fan of today's film. I mean, look, we're getting there. We're getting there. I've already bought like another Charles Portis book after reading the book. That's wild. Okay. Yeah, we're here. We're going to be talking about true grit today, but we are joined by the one and only Michelle Martin, host of NPR's Morning Edition. Hey, Michelle. Well, hey. What's going on?

Well, you obviously.

I'm going on. Yeah, we're going on.

I mean, obviously. Well, thank you for having me. This is fun. Of course, of course. All right, just before we get into the nitty-gritty, I'm going to do a quick synopsis of the book. And just as a disclaimer for listeners, we will be talking about sexual assault and gun violence.

So with that out of the way, 14-year-old Matt... Just as a disclaimer for listeners, we will be talking about sexual assault and gun violence.

So with that out of the way, 14-year-old Maddie Ross is on a revenge mission. The book takes place shortly after the Civil War and Maddie is chasing after Tom Cheney,

the no-good coward who killed her dad.

Maddie enlist the help of the grizzled one-eyed U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn, to go after him. Also chasing Tom Cheney for a separate crime is Texas Ranger LeBeef. LeBeef, yeah, LeBeef. We don't know his first name, right? He's just The Beef, right? As I understand it. And the book follows the three of them as they chase Tom and the band of outlaws he's joined up with. And then, you know, the book takes off from there. But I think I'm the one that picked this book for this one. Yeah, Andrew, why did you pick this book? I don't have a lot of relationship with Westerns. I don't really, I haven't read that many of them. I know, I remember being

in seventh grade and a bunch of kids and a different class was reading this book Shane. And I was

like, oh, wow, okay, this seems interesting, but I'd never, I've never given them a shot. And so

I'd heard about this book being like the pinnacle of the genre. And I just wanted to see what

all the fuss was about. Michelle, you read this book, right? You've read this book before. You read this book. When was the first time you read it? So, having to give away my age here, this book was published. Right, like millions of people listen to, sure. This book came out in 68, okay? And the movie came out, the first movie, because remember there was a remake a couple years ago.

They tell me you're a man with true grit.

What do you want, girl? Speak up in summertime.

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