Terzah recommends True Grit by Charles Portis

If you think men can't write realistic, whip-smart women, you haven't met 14-year-old Mattie Ross. The story of her quest to avenge her murdered father, this book was so funny in spots that I laughed out loud and read parts of it aloud to my family. But it didn't look away from the real violence, ugliness, and racism of the Old West. I devoured this classic in two days.
Publisher description:
This book is Portis's most famous novel and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Arkansas in the 1870s, who sets out one winter to avenge the murder of her father.