Amy Harmon's latest novel, The Outlaw Noble Salt, offers readers a look at a well known wild west legend with a fictionalized twist. The book asks whether or not an outlaw can truly leave his past behind, even for love. The main characters all have something to escape, and form their own band of outsiders. The novel also questions the idea of identity and how the characters really see themselves versus how the world views them.
Robert LeRoy Parker claimed fame as outlaw Butch Cassidy. In the novel, while visiting New York City, Cassidy watches singer Jane Toussant perform an old Scotch ballad his mother sang to him. After going backstage to speak to her he is mistaken for the doctor sent to look at her ill son Augustus. Cassidy gives his name as Noble Salt. Years later Butch Cassidy, Jane Toussant, and Augustus meet each other again in Paris. Jane needs security guard and asks Noble Salt to accompany her and Gus to America.
Jane's her reputation as a diva belies her inner turmoil. She has terrible secret in her past, one that causes her tremendous shame. Jane longs to be a good mother to her son and protect him from a cruel world. Augustus bears the birthmark that leaves him open to harsh comments yet he is a bright, happy-go lucky kid. Both long for sense of normalcy - Jane wants to stop performing and Gus just wants to be a kid with family.
Butch Cassidy never truly saw himself as an outlaw, yet legend and western novels fixed that reputation to him. His alias Noble Salt evokes both aspiration and the truth - Cassidy wants to be noble and is salt of the earth, having come from a poor family. He yearns to leave his criminal pass behind him, to lead a normal quiet life. Amy Harmon imbues the real life legend Butch Cassidy with heart and soul. His past weighs heavy on his mind yet he knows he can't change what he's done. Instead he hopes for a future away from his outlaw life. He finds inner peace in protecting Gus and Jane. He becomes Noble Salt, maybe the man he was always meant to be.
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