I’m thinkin’ one of the last genres you’d expect me to staff pic is a Western, but Doc, a novel about the life of Doc Holliday, is that and so much more.
Mary Doria Russell, an amazing author who writes all over the board, did tons of research and told me she literally fell in love with young Doc – who was born with a cleft palate, became a dentist to honor the uncle who performed one of the first cleft palate surgeries on him, was homeschooled, contracted TB, became a professional gambler out West where he went for the dry air – and the rest, as they say – is history. Fabulous!
— Jill
“Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp are icons of the Wild West - whiskey-swilling, poker-playing, quick-draw gunslingers -- whose exploits are the stuff of American legend. In real life, however, Doc was raised a genteel Southern gentleman, a dentist who went West hoping the dry air would help his tuberculosis. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was the culmination of a long string of events and setbacks, and Russell concentrates on Doc's life before the infamous shoot-out, when the friendship between the two men was just beginning. As always, Russell's dialogue is witty, her characters memorable, and her pacing effortless. This is an adventure tale, a love story, and an impeccably researched historical novel.”
— Dana Schulz, Snowbound Books, Marquette, MI
“Lyrical, elegant, and compelling, romantic and relentless, Doc is the captivating story of John Henry Holliday, dentist, cardsharp, and tubercular gunfighter. Russell brings the Old West and her characters to rich and vivid life and paints a complex, charming portrait of a complicated individual. Forget about the O.K. Corral, Doc is where the real action is!”
— Carol Schneck, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI