The Moment of Truth

by Damian McNicholl

Overview

Inspired by true events, The Moment of Truth finds a Texan art student facing down life, death, love, and glory in the bullfighting rings of 1950s Mexico.

Kathleen Boyd has been dreaming about becoming a matador since her beloved father took her to the bullfighting ring when she was just a child. Now a young woman, her disapproving fiancé and her practical-minded mother see her dream only as a foolish flight of fancy. Nevertheless, Kathleen relocates to Mexico and finds herself under the instruction of Fermin, a retired matador who is intent on asserting his dominance in their partnership. Though taking on a female apprentice is unheard of, Fermin sees Kathleen’s undeniable talent and promises that she’ll one day perform at the prestigious Plaza Mexico bullring.

While Kathleen struggles to perform alongside the unwelcoming men of Mexico’s bullfighting scene, she is befriended by Julio, better known as El Cabrito—The Kid.

As time passes, Kathleen’s confidence in her ability increases—though so too do her suspicions of Fermin’s intentions. She has become a sensation, but while Fermin gets rich, Kathleen’s pay remains pitiful and her instructor’s control over her life remains absolute. Will she always be a vehicle for another person’s success? Or will she finally face her own moment of truth and seize the success that she has worked toward for so long, in a world that has always belonged to men?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681774268
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Damian McNicholl was born and raised in Northern Ireland and worked as an attorney in New York City. His critically acclaimed first novel, A Son Called Gabriel, won awards and recognition, including an ABA Booksense Pick, a Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist, and a Lambda Literary Awards finalist in the debut novel category. He lives in Pennsylvania. Visit him at www.damianmcnicholl.com.

Editorial Reviews

04/24/2017
Set in post–World War II Texas and Mexico, this second novel by McNicholl (A Son Called Gabriel) is inspired by the life of Patricia McCormick, the first professional female bullfighter in North America. Kathleen Boyd is a just a girl with a drawl from Texas, studying graphic art in a town a tram ride away from the bullring in Los Pinos, Mexico. She has dreamed of becoming a bullfighter since childhood. One morning, after she crosses the border and jumps into a bullring down in Garza to prove her talent, she decides to become the apprentice of the older matador Fermin Guzman, in the process leaving her fiancé and disapproving mother in the States. Rising through the ranks, but suffering the slings and arrows of being a woman in what was still very much a man’s world, Kathleen slowly comes into her own in Mexico, both as a bullfighter and as a woman. Nicknamed La Diosa Tejana, the Texas Goddess, by her fans, she falls in love with the doomed young matador El Cabrito, who teaches her to question the demands of her older mentor. The best parts of this book are the pages in which we are in the bullring. McNicholl vividly brings to life the bulls and the brute physicality of the art of bullfighting. It is less successful, based on the ultimate choices Kathleen makes, as a boundary-pushing treatise on the liberation of women in the 1950s. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"McNicholl’s moving novel, rich in emotion and written with style and precision (the bullfighting scenes have the crisp clarity of Hemingway), strikes a fine balance between love story and historical adventure. Though he sets the book in another place and time and evokes both vividly, McNicholl uses the sensibilities of his heroine to give the story a very modern-seeming immediacy. This pairs well with Malcolm Brooks’ Painted Horses."

Booklist

"Through spare and touching prose, Damian McNicholl draws us into an arena inspired by history and transformed by imagination into a startlingly relevant story that will spark recognition for anyone whose passion and ambition has been challenged at every turn. In The Moment of Truth, McNicholl gives us Kathleen Boyd, a vital character full of fight; that he grants his protagonist a stance that bears true grit, power, and emotion, is an achievement worthy of resounding applause."

Affinity Konar

"The Moment of Truth is the best book I've read on bullfighting in a long time. Damian McNicholl tells this story with consummate ease and compelling imagery. A book for aficionados and for those who want to feel what it's like to be a woman competing in the very masculine world of corrida."

John Hemingway

"Fast-paced, suspenseful, authentic and inspiring, beautifully told and full of memorable characters. As I neared the final page, I kept wondering where McNicholl was going to take things and leave them. It is the same feeling I had reading The Grapes of Wrath for the first time. How could it be about anything more than their misery? And, of course, Steinbeck makes it about so much more; he executes one of the great endings—the perfect ending, really. So, I think, does Damian McNicholl. Simple and powerful."

Huffington Post

"Damian McNicholl is a natural storyteller, every detail, every twist, brilliantly deployed to keep you riveted to this tale of bullfighting, mid-century feminist dilemmas, romantic love, and power struggles of every kind. What a complete, compelling world I found within the covers of The Moment of Truth, a truly special novel of ideas, of feelings, and of such glorious descriptions you will feel happily, gratefully lost in 1950s Mexico."

Robin Black

"Kathleen is delivered from these pages as a full human person, three-dimensional and dynamic. The story flows through her training and her personal life with an easy, engaging pace. Bullfighting’s place in the world of performative art, as well as its morality, are discussed intelligently."

Foreword Reviews

"The highlight of McNicholl’s story is his ability to capture the action of a scene with intimate detail as he builds an entire world around the bullfighting ring."

Southwestern American Literature

"A triumphant celebration of women’s equality and empowerment. McNicholl writes with equal grace about the art of bullfighting, the traditions of the matador de toros, and Kathleen’s journey through love and heartbreak. While Kathleen’s story will surely resonate with anyone who has struggled against society’s views of traditional gender roles, it is filled with themes any reader can connect with. Knowing the story is based on real events made it all the more inspiring."

Historical Novels Review

"Damian McNicholl’s stunning novel unflinchingly tracks the journey of following one’s dream and all the triumphs and setbacks that are a part of making that dream a reality—especially when the dreamer is a young woman determined to enter an all-male world. With a vibrant cast of characters and evocative prose, McNicholl brings the world of 1950s Mexico and the rarified circle of bullfighters to glorious life. By turns exhilarating and heartbreaking, The Moment of Truth is a story that goes in unexpected directions and is as memorable as it is unfailingly honest."

Sarah-Jane Stratford

"Life, death, love and bullfighting converge in McNicholl’s shatteringly original novel about a young female art student struggling to be the first American matador in 1950’s Mexico. So vivid, you can feel the heat prickling on the back of your neck, and so smartly written, it makes you rethink how we all really find our own truth and success."

Caroline Leavitt

Each character, from Gabriel's girlfriend to his youngest sister, is so vividly portrayed that their world is all-encompassing, and it becomes almost heartbreaking to say goodbye.

Foreword Magazine [praise for Damian McNicholl's 'A Son Called Gabriel']

McNicholl is a fine storyteller and, in Gabriel, he has created a convincing, complicated and likable main character.

CurledUp.com [praise for Damian McNicholl's 'A Son Called Gabriel']

A touching portrait of one boy's hopes and fears.

Booklist [praise for Damian McNicholl's 'A Son Called Gabriel']

03/15/2017
Set in the 1950s world of Mexican corridas, McNicholl's second novel (after A Son Called Gabriel) follows 19-year-old Kathleen Boyd, a Texan with a passion for bullfighting. When she jumps into the ring in Los Pinos, Mexico, a common practice for aspiring matadors, she demonstrates courage but also inexperience, as she is nearly gored and trampled. After fleeing the arena, she's tracked down by a businessman who places her with a retired matador. Despite the restrictive mores of the time, he agrees to train Kathleen, with the intention of profiting from her novelty, and quickly dominates every aspect of her life. Facing bulls will be only the first of her challenges. This novel brims with authenticity—so much so that some readers may flinch at the bloodier moments. The obstacles in Kathleen's path are such that one can't help but root for her. Inspired by the first professional female bullfighter in North America, McNicholl not only creates a convincing character, he dramatizes through her ordeals the intricate art of bullfighting. VERDICT An enjoyable read for those interested in the life of a woman determined to succeed in a man's world.—Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Library Journal

03/01/2018
In the 1950s, white middle-class American women were usually expected to stay home, raise children, and look after their husbands. Nineteen-year-old Kathleen Boyd wants those things someday, but today she wants to become a matador. As a child she watched a bullfight with her beloved father and was entranced, spending all her days thereafter pretending to fight bulls with her best friend, Sally. After her father dies, Kathleen continues to dream of bullfighting even as her mother plans her life for her, including marriage to the ever-respectable Charles. But Kathleen heads to Mexico to jump into the ring. Barely escaping with her life, she catches the eye of Maestro Fermin, who agrees to be her manager. Fermin works her hard, and with Kathleen's determination and talent, he guides her into the bullring. When she captivates the young matador Julio (aka El Cabrito), he shows her that there are many paths to be followed in the bullring,. Kathleen soon discovers that Fermin's management is not in her best interest, and she must draw on her own strength as she moves forward. VERDICT Give this fast-paced, action-packed book to teens interested in rodeos, horses, and bullfighting, as well as fans of works about resilient protagonists willing to fight in order to follow their dreams.—Connie Williams, Petaluma Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

2017-03-21
A young woman in 1950s America tries to pursue her dream.Inspired by the life of American matadora Patricia McCormick, McNicholl's (A Son Called Gabriel, 2004) novel offers a fresh perspective on sex discrimination in the workplace. Nineteen-year-old Kathleen Boyd is studying at an art school in Rowansville, Texas, not far from Mexico. But her true love is bullfighting. The book opens with an exciting set piece about Kathleen sneaking into a ring in Garza, Mexico, to take on a bull that's "three-quarters the length of a new 1950 Cadillac." She performs some admirable cape work but then her hat falls off. She's a woman. She loses her cool, is nearly gored, and runs for the protective barrier and then keeps running. Businessman Vincente Barros tracks her down and offers her lessons, with an eye to profiting off her once she makes it. She accepts, preferring the art "made in an open theater." First, she must convince her fiance and her mother, who are both against it. They both lose. So it's off to Los Pinos, where Barros has secured a teacher for her, Fermin Guzman, an accomplished, retired matador. She moves into a women's dormitory and begins the grueling lessons that will teach her all that Guzman knows. It won't be easy, of course, and then there's the discrimination a woman in the '50s must deal with (it's worse in Mexico) and then there's her rape and then there's Julio, a handsome young matador who takes her under his wing. The material about bullfighting—its history, language (veronica, rebolera, farole) and the beautiful outfits—is fascinating but the story itself lacks sparkle. The subject matter is certainly important and the setting fresh, but the overall presentation is lackluster.

Kirkus Reviews

McNicholl’s moving novel, rich in emotion and written with style and precision (the bullfighting scenes have the crisp clarity of Hemingway), strikes a fine balance between love story and historical adventure. Though he sets the book in another place and time and evokes both vividly, McNicholl uses the sensibilities of his heroine to give the story a very modern-seeming immediacy. This pairs well with Malcolm Brooks’ Painted Horses.

Booklist

Read More