The Last Cowboy

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

The Last Cowboy’s chief protagonist, bank manager Sam McMahon of
Broken Head, Saskatchewan, plays several roles: as an urban cowboy among
his banker colleagues in Toronto; as a wimp in the eyes of his wife,
Gwen, and a cuckold in those of his brother Vern; as, figuratively
speaking, a jailer to his aging former real-life cowboy and womanizing
grandfather, Old Sam; and as an incompetent Lothario to Ai, a
chain-smoking Toronto film producer searching for the ideal prairie site
for a cowboy film.

Told from the diverse viewpoints of the author and several of the
characters, a number of seemingly unrelated storylines eventually come
together: Sam’s deteriorating relationships with his wife and brother,
Old Sam’s past life as a hard-bitten cattleman hiding the secret of
his wife’s death, Ai’s problems finding the site for the film’s
shoot, and a story of two First Nations kids who steal a car and find
themselves trapped in a violent web of racism.

As he keeps each of the stories moving toward the novel’s cathartic
denouement, Gowan uses language well to evoke the sights, smells,
sounds, and winter-storm cold of his Saskatchewan settings. The Last
Cowboy is a highly entertaining read.