I Want to Die in My Boots
A Novel
Published on 22. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-990071-27-0 (ISBN)
Description
"A captivating, untold portrait of Belle Jane, a larger than life woman who led a gang of cattle thieves in Saskatchewan in the 1920s - defying social conventions and living a life full of rebellion." -CBC Books
A debut novel by an exciting new voice in Canadian literature, I Want to Die in My Boots weaves fact and fiction to tell the true-ish story of horse thief Belle Jane.
I Want to Die in My Boots is the untold story of Belle Jane, the woman who ran one of Canada's largest cattle thieving rings in the 1920s, who brilliantly broke every taboo, took the names of five different husbands, and nearly followed the tragic end of her great hero, the outlaw queen Belle Starr.
Dark and daring, meticulously researched and mostly true, I Want to Die in My Boots is a lyrical, unconventional literary novel that gives voice to the unheard in a long-forgotten world. After leaving Montana for a third husband and the ranch she'd always wanted, Belle settles in Saskatchewan, before spending her final years in Penticton, reading tarot cards for strangers.
Written a century after her arrest, this fictional tribute to Belle Jane, an unsung hero in Canada's west, is inventive yet thoughtful, a work of Prairie literary fiction that takes an edgy twist to history. I Want to Die in My Boots will appeal to readers of Annie Proulx, Sheila Watson, Robert Kroetsch, and Maggie O'Farrell, and to viewers of Yellowstone and The Power of the Dog.
A debut novel by an exciting new voice in Canadian literature, I Want to Die in My Boots weaves fact and fiction to tell the true-ish story of horse thief Belle Jane.
I Want to Die in My Boots is the untold story of Belle Jane, the woman who ran one of Canada's largest cattle thieving rings in the 1920s, who brilliantly broke every taboo, took the names of five different husbands, and nearly followed the tragic end of her great hero, the outlaw queen Belle Starr.
Dark and daring, meticulously researched and mostly true, I Want to Die in My Boots is a lyrical, unconventional literary novel that gives voice to the unheard in a long-forgotten world. After leaving Montana for a third husband and the ranch she'd always wanted, Belle settles in Saskatchewan, before spending her final years in Penticton, reading tarot cards for strangers.
Written a century after her arrest, this fictional tribute to Belle Jane, an unsung hero in Canada's west, is inventive yet thoughtful, a work of Prairie literary fiction that takes an edgy twist to history. I Want to Die in My Boots will appeal to readers of Annie Proulx, Sheila Watson, Robert Kroetsch, and Maggie O'Farrell, and to viewers of Yellowstone and The Power of the Dog.
Reviews / Votes
"The B.C.-based ex-journo melds fact and fiction in the picaresque story of the real-life figure Belle Jane, who, in the Canadian West of the 1920s, defied gender conventions both through her five marriages and her skillful running of one of Canada's largest cattle- and horse-rustling rings . . ." -Globe and Mail"I Want to Die in My Boots is a captivating, untold portrait of Belle Jane, a larger than life woman who led a gang of cattle thieves in Saskatchewan in the 1920s - defying social conventions and living a life full of rebellion." -CBC Books
"A lively, intricate, and passionate portrait of an unknown historical figure and her wild times-and such a good read!" -Alix Hawley, author of All True Not a Lie in It and My Name is a Knife
"Natalie Appleton demonstrates her ample talent as a writer as well as her scrupulousness as a researcher in her first novel I Want To Die In My Boots. Her first lively, original novel is a welcome addition to the growing body of novels about the Canadian West and some of its well known characters. She is an exciting new talent on the Western Canadian writing scene." -Sharon Butala, author of Leaving Wisdom
"The gripping dark star of Belle Jane's reimagined life bristles with the harshness of survival - as a horse thief, as a woman. It's a story recounted in a poet's lyrical language, in a galloping rush like horses' hooves." -dee Hobsbawn-Smith, author of Danceland Diary and Among the Untamed
"In a refreshing take on early outlaw women, Natalie Appleton's poetic pen and meticulous research bring Belle Jane's story to life. . . Across grasslands and hills, gulches and creek bottoms, Appleton's soul-filled landscapes cloak the grit of a dark and daring plot filled with knotted ropes, branding irons and bones down wells. With a cast of cowboys and townsfolk, outlaws and lawmen, I Want to Die in my Boots immerses the reader in Belinda Jane Corneil's ride to infamy." -Anne Lazurko, author of What is Written on the Tongue
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Calgary
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-990071-27-0 (9781990071270)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Natalie Appleton studied journalism at the University of Regina and creative writing at City University London. Her literary travel memoir, I Have Something to Tell You, followed publication of an essay in The New York Times. Natalie has won Prairie Fire's Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award and Room Magazine's? Creative Non-fiction Contest. She lives in the Okanagan with her husband and sons.