Leaving Cheyenne — Larry McMurtry

“If Chaucer were a Texan writing today . . . this is how he would have written and this is how he would have felt.” -- New York Times

In Leaving Cheyenne (1963), which anticipates Lonesome Dove more than any other early novel, the stark realities of the American West play out in a mesmerizing love triangle. Stubborn rancher Gideon Fry, resilient Molly Taylor, and awkward ranch hand Johnny McCloud struggle with love and jealousy as the years pass.