Harold Bell Wright

When a mysterious stranger seeks employment on an Arizona cattle ranch, he's put to the test to prove his manhood in this classic Western novel. Though his clothes and bearing suggest a life of leisure and genteel breeding, the man who calls himself Honorable Patches has come to Prescott, Arizona, to find work as a cowboy. Inexperienced but full of determination, he's taken on at the Cross-Triangle Ranch, where he learns the trade under the guidance...

This is a tale about a good young man and woman who prevail over the evil social forces in the town of "Fairlands"-the thinly disguised town of Redlands, California, where Wright lived. The novel explores what Wright views as the false world of artists, writers, critics, and their wealthy patrons. The author uses the story to express criticism of realism and naturalism in literary expression.