English widow Tulip Jones is off to America, having inherited $35 million and an entire ranch in Texas, with a lot of tea, her three ranch hands (née house servants), and 12 pet tortoises in tow. With pluck and verve, they establish themselves in the Texas heat but soon find their efforts interrupted by more than 1000 marriageable fortune hunters. Widow Jones has to hire her own baker, one Charlie Doughpuncher, just to feed them all. At her wits end, she hatches a few impossible contests, promising to marry the winner. Meanwhile, the ranch hands solicit 1000 brides from across the country. And voila, dastards are caught, vows exchanged, and everyone, even the ranch hands, departs. Except Charlie, of course, who has a proposal of his own. Isaacs’ tall-tale plotting and over-the-top language are matched by Hawkes’ bright, comic paintings, brimming with spirit and detail. An opening endpaper signpost warns against exaggeration in Texas, promising just the outsize adventure that Isaacs and Hawkes deliver.