I've loved all of Molly Gloss' novels, so it's no surprise that I gulped this one down within 2 days. I just fell into Bud's voice.

The book is told like a memoir, with a 50-ish artist looking back on the year when he was 19, and left ranching in eastern Oregon to head to Hollywood and ride stunts in westerns. The year in Hollywood is the late '30s. On the bus to California, he meets Lily, a young woman from Seattle who plans to be a big-shot scriptwriter. They become life-long friends, but there's no romance.

The two young people not falling in love is one of the ways the book tweaks your expectations. His parents on the ranch are as tough and hard-working as you'd expect, but don't quite fit into stereotype. Her characters are never cardboard. Bud talks about the movies, but also about growing up and his family. There's a description of the country he's seeing outside the bus window that I had to stop and show to Ron. Lovely writing.