In this novel of the West, centered in east-central Nevada, John Siloa, a young Basque sheepherder, comes west to work on Cyril Kinsella's ranch and eventually becomes the old man's confidant and agent. An old man immured in the great stone house which has become both his refuge and the badge of his despair, Kinsella lives in a world haunted by his past. Slowly, Siloa becomes entangled in Kinsella's life and in the lives of those on whom he has left his mark. Listening long into the night to the old man's whiskey-revealed stories, Siloa moves uneasily between his roles as both actor and...