Days Without End Summary

Days Without End is a novel by Irish author Sebastian Barry, first published in 2016. The book has received a lot of praise, winning several awards. It won the 2017 Walter Scott Prize, the 2016 Costa Book Award, and was also listed in The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Barry is the only author to win the Costa Book Award twice, having also won it for his 2008 novel The Secret Scripture.

The novel is told by Thomas McNulty, who looks back on his life as an older man. The story begins when Thomas is about 17 years old, although he doesn’t know his exact age. He meets John Cole in St. Louis. Thomas has lost his family to the Irish famine, and John, who has some Native American heritage, has left his father in New England. Both of them are alone in the world, so they decide to stay together. They quickly become close, and their bond turns into a romantic relationship. For two years, they dress up as women in a saloon to entertain the miners, since there are no women in the town. Dressing as women feels right to Thomas, and it marks the start of his changing views on his gender identity, which will continue to evolve throughout the novel.

Eventually, they grow older and their appearances no longer fit the idea of women, so they lose their jobs at the saloon. They then decide to join the army and end up fighting in the American Indian Wars. They travel across the United States, including California, and spend a lot of time at Fort Laramie. Their commanding officer, Major Neale, tries to be fair in his dealings with the Native American groups, while another officer, Sergeant Wellington, is openly racist. During their time in California, they are sent to kill a group of Native Americans. The soldiers are celebrated for their actions, but soon face hardship as they are forced to travel back east before the winter and nearly starve on the Great Plains. They are helped by an Oglala Sioux chief named Caught-His-Horse-First, who gives them food.

Later, a treaty is discussed between the Native American tribes and the U.S. government to allow emigrants to travel west through Native lands without being attacked. While it seems successful at first, conflict arises when Caught-His-Horse-First kills some emigrants who are traveling through land that the treaty forbids them to pass. In retaliation, the army kills an entire village of Oglala Sioux, sparing only the children, who are taken to Fort Laramie to be educated. Caught-His-Horse-First is not there at the time, but his wife and most of his daughters are killed. When Caught-His-Horse-First tries to trade for his daughter’s release, he is attacked by a soldier named Starling Carlton, and a sharpshooter named Lige Magan kills his daughter.

After their time in the army ends, John’s health suffers due to the environment near Fort Laramie, so they leave the military and take a young Sioux girl, whom they name Winona, with them. They head to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they join a minstrel troupe owned by Noone, who once employed them at the saloon. Thomas enjoys performing in the troupe, as it allows him to dress as a woman again and express his love for John in a public performance.

When the Civil War breaks out, John and Thomas join the Union army, urged by their friend Beulah McSweny, a free Black man they met in Michigan. They serve with Major Neale, and later, Starling and Lige also join them in battle. Lige is injured and sent home. Before they are about to finish their service, they are captured by the Confederacy and sent to a brutal prisoner-of-war camp. They survive a harsh winter there and are eventually exchanged for Confederate prisoners, returning to Michigan.

After recovering, they receive a letter from Lige, asking them to come to Tennessee. He needs help with his tobacco farm, as he can’t get any local support. Thomas, John, and Winona travel to Tennessee, and during the journey, Thomas begins wearing women’s clothes full-time. They arrive at Lige’s farm, where they live with him, his partner Rosalee, a Black woman, and her brother. Years later, Starling arrives with terrible news: Caught-His-Horse-First has kidnapped Major Neale’s wife and daughter. One of Neale’s daughters has already been killed, but Caught-His-Horse-First offers to trade his remaining daughter for Winona, who is actually his niece. John refuses the trade, but Winona secretly leaves with Starling in the night.

Thomas follows them to Laramie. Major Neale offers Thomas a brief military commission to stay at the base for the trade, promising to release Thomas afterward. Winona returns to the Sioux, but Major Neale, devastated by the loss of his daughter, orders the killing of the entire Sioux village. Thomas is only interested in protecting Winona, but Starling, who is loyal to Neale, insists that Winona must die. In a confrontation, Thomas kills Starling. Major Neale is arrested for ordering the massacre, and Thomas escapes with Winona, dressed as a woman. They begin their journey back to Tennessee, and during the trip, Thomas realizes that she identifies as a woman.

When they arrive back in Tennessee, things seem to be going well until two officers show up looking for Thomas, who is listed as a deserter because Major Neale forgot to remove her military commission. Since Thomas is now fully presenting as a woman, John introduces her as “Mrs. Cole” and claims Thomas McNulty is dead. However, one of the officers recognizes her and demands that she turn herself in or else John and Winona will be considered criminals for protecting her. Thomas reluctantly agrees and is court-martialed for desertion and killing Starling. Just before Thomas is to be executed, Major Neale intervenes, and Thomas’s sentence is changed to 100 days of hard labor. The book ends with Thomas completing her sentence and looking forward to reuniting with John and Winona.