Praise for Etta

Please direct all media inquiries to:
Lisa Barnes
Random House Publicity
P: 212- 572- 2014
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From The Newark Star Ledger
"GENUINELY ORIGINAL"
"..a novel with a genuinely original plot...there's heaps of history here and the story moves along briskly and unforgettably."

From The Huffington Post:
"FORGET BUTCH AND SUNDANCE,
ETTA'S THE REAL STAR HERE. "
"An American tall-tale that feels like legitimate and living history...an expansive saga that spans the 1890s to the 1930s, moves between the dusty trails of Colorado and Wyoming to the genteel salons of New York City, and includes Teddy Roosevelt, the Harvey Girls, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, a 21-year old, lonely Eleanor Roosevelt, Leon Trotsky, The Pinkerton Detective Agency and, the pre-curser to the mafia, The Black Hand...For those who savor historical fiction, action and romance, Etta is someone you should certainly get to know."

From The Sacramento Bee:
"ENTHRALLING DETAIL"
"It's true that an elegant woman named Etta Place ran with Butch Cassidy and his Hole in the Wall Gang, but not much else is known about her. This debut tale imagines her life and times in enthralling detail. One fitting but understated description says the book blends 'a compelling love story, high adventure and thrilling historical drama.'"

From The Chicago Sun Times:
"IT MAKES YOU WANT TO HOP ON A FAST HORSE
AND JOIN THE GANG."
"Etta by Gerald Kolpan seems like a dime novel, and that's meant as a compliment. The story of the lover of the Sundance Kid, Etta has everything you'd want in a story of the last days of the old West -- fast horses, chivalrous train robbers, dastardly villains, and a beautiful damsel constantly in distress, but usually able to get out of it on her own. It's rollicking, rambunctious, rip-roaring, rootin'-tootin' and other fun words that begin with the letter 'R.'"

From The Philadelphia City Paper:
"STATELY, BLOODY, AND ROMANTIC"
"Kolpan takes...Etta, turns her into a Philadelphia socialite on the run with Kill Bill-like circumstances, and explodes her across a mix of historical incidents and fictional landscapes with real-life characters - Annie Oakley, the boys of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, Eleanor Roosevelt - doing possibly real things. This mix could have been absurd and mawkish, but Kolpan avoids such silliness. He also avoids the obviousness of the crude: Rather than be ribald and Deadwood-esque, as most modern Westerns appear, Kolpan's chatty character-run horse opera is stately, bloody and romantic -- the lit-equivalent of Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller."

From The Dallas Morning News
"A LIVELY BIO OF THE WOMAN WHO PARTNERED WITH BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID"
"Kolpan has plenty of ideas for the girl whose history is such a blank slate. The author even goes so far as to give her an active social conscience and to turn the Sundance Kid into a socialist who cares deeply about the common man. The form of Etta consists of old newspaper articles, diary entries, letters and simple narration, with many of the facts fabricated. It's mostly escapist reading, though you will pick up some real history, too. If you're going to the beach this spring, this might well be your book."

From The Denver Post:
"A RICHLY IMAGINED TALE."
"Little is known about the life of Etta Place, the paramour so nicely played by Katherine Ross in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Gerald Kolpan fills the holes in history with Etta, a richly imagined tale...a fast-paced adventure story, replete with gunfights and train robberies and the romance of the Cowboy West."

From OK! Magazine:

"In this lively and well-researched novel, reporter Kolpan explores the mysterious life of 1900s figure Etta Place, fleshing out her romance with legendary Old West robber the Sundance Kid."

From Book Page:
"A BULLY ADVENTURE!"
"Kolpan clearly loves his wayward heroine, who's incredibly beautiful, tall, smart and cultured. As with a number of works of new fiction, Kolpan's Etta interacts with real historical figures. Charlie Siringo of the Pinkertons is out to get her; she saves the life of Teddy Roosevelt while impersonating Annie Oakley ("A bully adventure!" he crows); the president's shy and insecure niece Eleanor becomes a friend....When Butch and Sundance finally buy the farm in Bolivia in 1909, the resourceful Etta fades from history, but doesn't fade away. Like Rose in Titanic, she goes on to lead a rich and eventful life. Etta is indeed a bully adventure!"

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"RICH AND REWARDING"
"Through Etta's eyes, the reader witnesses great scenes from Western lore, of gunplay and train robberies. Kolpan doesn't allow himself to be constrained by history and offers a romanticized version of the mysterious lady...the well-crafted narrative successfully brings to life an era and a figure lost to time. "

From Kirkus Reviews:
"A SURPRISINGLY SUBSTANTIAL NOVEL"
"Technically, there's too much muchness in this sprawling narrative, which is festooned with newspaper stories, letters (Harry's, sent to his respectable dad, are particularly delightful), journal entries and communiqués detailing investigations conducted by busy Pinkerton agents. But any reader who cherishes the beguiling tall tales spun by such masters as Charles Portis and Thomas Berger is unlikely to object. Few will have any more success resisting Etta than do the many men, women and other critters encountered during her memorable adventures.

Great fun and - beneath the hijinks - a surprisingly substantial novel."

From Publishers Weekly:
"WINNING TALE OF THE WILD WEST"
"The sketchy details of the life of Etta Place, outlaw and paramour of Harry "Sundance Kid" Longbaugh, are imaginatively filled in by first-time novelist Kolpan in this winning tale of the Wild West... Kolpan's snappy storytelling makes it impossible not to want to ride along as the characters careen toward their tragic ends."

From The Printed Page:
"MESMERIZING AND INTRIGUING"
"This book is a work of fiction and, at times, that's hard to remember. Mr. Kolpan fashions a thoroughly entertaining tale by fabricating dispatches from the Pinkerton Detective agency, entries from Etta's diary, and newspaper accounts of the day. He skillfully weaves them together bringing to life an elusive lady.

Spellbinding... jam packed with historical detail and characters. I found Mr. Kolpan's depiction of Etta's life both mesmerizing and intriguing. I recommend this book for any reader not just those who love historical fiction. Men and women alike will be attracted to this story."

Karen Abbott, author of Sin In The Second City:
"ASTONISHING"
"It's obvious that Gerald Kolpan fell in love with a little piece of history, and he brings her to vivid life in this astonishing first novel. Kolpan has a gift for capturing the voice of America at the turn of the last century, and he uses it to full advantage, intertwining newspaper reports, historical documents, journals and his own lush prose. Etta's story unfolds in surprising ways against the backdrop of one of the most colorful periods in our nation's history. This is a writer to watch."

Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife:
"EXHILARATING AND PROVACATIVE"
"In this exhilarating and provocative story of the life of the mysterious figure known as Etta Place, Kolpan creates a richly conceived, passionately rendered, and wonderfully imagined novel that leaps off the page with its daring. When Etta walks into your life, you won't be able to put the book down, so prop up the pillows and get ready to ride the night through."

From Library Journal:
"SURE TO BE COMPARED FAVORABLY WITH
LARRY MCMURTY'S NOVELS OF THE WILD WEST"
"Etta Place was not only the paramour of the infamous Sundance Kid. Knowing her way around horses and guns, she became a key member of Butch Cassidy's notorious outlaw gang, the Wild Bunch. But her name was an alias, and no one knows where she really came from. Emmy Award-winning Philadelphia television reporter Kolpan steps into the historical void, penning a novel that speculates on Etta's life. He gives her a privileged Philadelphia background interrupted by family scandal and sends her out West as a Harvey Girl. But when her good looks get her into trouble, she falls in with the Wild Bunch. Hiding out at the encampment of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang in Wyoming Territory, she ends up a one-woman banker for the group. Later, she goes undercover in New York City, becoming dear friends with Eleanor Roosevelt and working as a stand-in for Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Incorporating Etta's diary entries, telegraph messages, and news clippings into the narrative, Kolpan vividly tells a tale that is both outrageous and entertaining, sure to be compared favorably with Larry McMurtry's novels of the Wild West."

From Booklist:
"...PAINTS AN INTRIGUING PORTRAIT
OF AN INDOMITABLE CHARACTER"
"Thanks to the tremendous success and enduring popularity of the Paul Newman and Robert Redford film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Etta Place is a name that history has not entirely forgotten. She has, however, been relegated to the back burner, a footnote character famous for her connection to Sundance and Butch. Kolpan rescues Etta from second-banana status, providing her with a fictional story to rival that of her more notorious male companions. Since little or nothing is known about Place, the author exercises free reign creating a richly detailed backstory for the enigmatic Etta. A former debutante forced to change her name and identity, the newly rechristened Etta is a woman on the run who heads west to carve out a new life for herself. Instead of eluding danger, she plunges directly into it when she embarks on an exhilarating odyssey fueled by both necessity and passion."

From Historical Novel Review:
"...IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE
THAT ETTA HAD LIVED ANY OTHER LIFE"
"Interspersed with telegrams, letters, and newspaper reports, Etta is a charming story as filled with train robberies and prison escapes as any dime novel of the time - but written a whole lot better. Gerald Kolpan has painted such a vivid picture of the era - and the woman living it - that it's difficult to imagine that Etta had lived any other life. "