A Forever Day

This is a historical fiction in that two of the main characters, Bonnie and Clyde, were indeed historical figures. Their physical description and murderous ways are from FBI records and some newspaper articles. All the other characters are fictional. The village of Bienville and Gibsland, Louisiana, are reasonably accurate for the time period.The most credible account of their first meeting is January 1930, West Dallas. Bonnie, being out of work, was staying with a friend who was nursing a broken arm. Clyde stopped by to visit his friend and when he and Bonnie met, both were immediately smitten.They soon were traveling the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, stealing cars for transportation, robbing and killing when cornered or confronted. At times, the gang included Clyde’s older brother Buck Barrow and his wife Blanche, Raymond Hamilton, W. D. Jones, Joe Palmer, Ralph Fults, and Henry Methvin. Their exploits captured the attention of the American public during the Public Enemy Era between 1931 and 1935. Though known today for their dozen-or-so bank robberies, Bonnie and Clyde preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is implicated in the death of at least nine police officers and several civilians. Bonnie and Clyde were eventually ambushed and killed by law officers near the town of Sailes, in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Their reputation was revived and cemented in American pop folklore by Arthur Penn’s 1967 film, Bonnie a...