The True Account — Howard Frank Mosher

An explorer and his nephew set out to beat Lewis & Clark to the Pacific in this humorous historical novel by the author of A Stranger in the Kingdom.

In the spring of 1804, Private True Teague Kinneson -- schoolmaster, inventor, playwright, and explorer -- sets out with his nephew, Ticonderoga, to race Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific. Along the way True and Ti encounter Daniel Boone and his six-foot-two spinster daughter, Flame Danielle; fight and trick a renegade army out to stop Lewis's expedition; invent baseball with the Nez Perce; hold a high-stakes rodeo with Sacagawea's Shoshone relatives; and outwit True's lifelong adversary, the Gentleman from Vermont, a.k.a. the Devil himself. And when a beautiful and mysterious Blackfoot girl named Yellow Sage Flower Who Tells Wise Stories enters the tale, things start to get really interesting . . .

A Top Ten Book Sense 76 Selection

Praise for The True Account

“A madcap what-if story . . . a cock-eyed joyride through history.” -- Washington Post

“Picaresque is too tame a word for this imagined romp . . . A great adventure.” -- Los Angelese Times Book Review

“The funniest historical novel about the West since Little Big Man.” -- Denver Post

“Mosher calls to mind the best of Mark Twain -- mischievous, touching, and very funny.” -- Carl Hiaasen

“Clever . . . . Fun and fanciful with much to savor, Mosher's novel demonstrates a boundless imagination and a light comic touch.” -- Publishers Weekly