Historical Fiction

Okla Hannali

Okla Hannali was first written in 1963. It was a torturous undertaking even though it wasn’t much more than an overflowing of crammed notebooks: I wasn’t a very good novel writer at that time. It has since been completely rewritten twice. In the various writings of it and studies for it, I have picked up quite a bit of the non-Indian history of my own region also.

—R. A. Lafferty
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Standalone
Fagin the Thief
Allison Epstein
Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist 2024

Standalone
The Seventh Veil of Salome
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Fae of the Roaring Age
The Veil of Violence (#2)
Marilyn Marks
Standalone
Let the Dead Bury the Dead
Allison Epstein
Buy
Fae of the Roaring Age
The Prince of Prohibition (#1)
Marilyn Marks
Second Sons
Alcott Hall (#3)
Emily Rath
King's Fool
Courting Dragons (#1)
Jeri Westerson
Gunnie Rose Series
The Serpent in Heaven (#4)
Charlaine Harris
Standalone
Right Back Where We Started From
Joy Lanzendorfer
Standalone
A Tip for the Hangman
Allison Epstein
Buy
Standalone
The Survival of Margaret Thomas
Del Howison
Buy
Standalone
Finding Eleanor
Catelyn Wilson
Anthologies
Alternate Peace
Joshua Palmatier
Buy
Novellas
Jesus and the Eightfold Path
Lavie Tidhar
Buy
Standalone
The Summer Isles
Ian R. MacLeod
Buy
Standalone
Wall, Stone, Craft
Walter Jon Williams
Standalone
Airman Mortensen
Michael Blake
Standalone
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Simon R. Green
Standalone
Trail: The Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Louis Charbonneau
Buy
Privateers & Gentlemen Series
Cat Island (#5)
Walter Jon Williams
Privateers & Gentlemen Series
The Macedonian (#4)
Walter Jon Williams
Privateers & Gentlemen Series
Brig of War (#3)
Walter Jon Williams
Privateers & Gentlemen Series
The Tern Schooner (#2)
Walter Jon Williams
Privateers & Gentlemen Series
To Glory Arise (#1)
Walter Jon Williams
Standalone
Compulsion
Meyer Levin
Standalone
The Harvest
Meyer Levin
Buy
Standalone
The Spell of Time
Meyer Levin
Buy
Standalone
The Settlers
Meyer Levin
Buy
Standalone
Okla Hannali
R.A. Lafferty
Standalone
Down from the Mountain
Louis Charbonneau
Buy
Standalone
Citizens
Meyer Levin
Buy
Standalone
The Old Bunch
Meyer Levin
Buy
Anthologies
Classic Chassidic Tales
Meyer Levin

Reviews

"This curious and wonderful tall tale contributes to the apocalyptic revision of American history that began with LITTLE BIG MAN and BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. It's the tale of Hannali Innominee, a 'Mingo' or natural lord of the 19th-century Choctaw Indian [and] a capacious, indomitable giant of the ilk of Paul Bunyan [...] Lafferty tells it straight: how the Choctaw nation, once removed, reconstituted itself and thrived in Indian territory [...] how there came a schism between the rich, part-white, slave-owning, moneylending Choctaws and the 'feudal, compassionate, chauvinistic' full-blooded freeholders like Hannali; and how during the Cilv War, the Indians were manipulated divide-and-conquer fashion in helping destroy each other."
Kirkus

"[OKLA HANNALI] is elemental Americana and a great deal of fun."
Wall Street Journal

"The use of the epic form is unusual and effective, and Lafferty's humor is both subtle and boisterous: he writes with warmth and sympathy for the Indian. This is a valuable addition to the growing literature on the subject."
Library Journal

“It’s an American classic.”
Voice Literary Supplement

The history of the Choctaw Indians has been told before and is still being told, but it has never been told in the way Lafferty tells it [...] Hannali is a buffalo bull of a man who should become on of the enduring characters in the literature of the American Indian.
Dee Brown, historian and author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Okla Hannali

Reviews

Awards & Accolades

Rights