Quill & Quire

Forget the awards hype, the critical acclaim, the young author with Hollywood connections. The Sisters Brothers proves that, even without the bumpf of a major marketing campaign or name recognition, a good story will find an audience. Patrick deWitt’s note-perfect comic Western, about a pair of surprisingly sensitive gunslingers on the trail of a California prospector, is an unlikely formula for a literary smash, but its blend of dark humour, pathos, and laconic violence – think Charles Portis meets Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush – finds the right balance between entertaining story and virtuosic style. Only deWitt’s second novel, The Sisters Brothers is evidence of a young writer secure in his considerable talents.