Half Broke Horses
Author Jeannette Walls originally planned on writing her mother's story, but at her mother's request she was directed a generation back.
And so begins her true-life tale of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey, born in a mud cave at the turn of the century. The protagonist came early to the understanding that life was to be handled with an adventurous and challenging spirit. When the floods took the cave, her family moved to an abandoned shack, and by age 6, Lily Casey was helping her father break the obstinate horses he'd received in a legal settlement.
Readily regarded as headstrong and able, she climbed on her horse at age 15, with an eighth grade education, and headed west to teach in the frontier towns that other educators shunned. A stint in Chicago taught her to beware of men and led her back to the tiny towns where she was the most content. From there she proved herself an admirable horseman, teacher, bootlegger -
and survivor.
Smitten with the offerings of new technology, she learned to drive, and eventually fly a plane -
and in the end asked the car salesman to marry her. Walls writes of Lily's proposal, "'Jim Smith, do you want to marry me? I asked.' He stared at me a moment and then broke into a big grin. 'Lily Casey, I wanted to marry you ever since I saw you take that fall off that mustang and then get right back on him.'"
Undaunted by poverty, drought and personal tragedies, Lily was a stalwart pioneer who refused to be victimized by anything or anyone, and in "Half Broke Horses" provides an amazing character for Walls' considerable storytelling talent. Determined to pass her life lessons on to her daughter, the author's mother, Lily provided rich and detailed accounts of her past - with Walls taking creative liberty to provide readers with a captivating and adventurous ride.
Every Last One
Mary Beth Latham's life is a recognizable one: a husband who heads off regularly to work every morning after the same bowl of cereal he's had for years, three cherished children who buck her every word but fortunately have an outside demeanor that speaks to their upbringing, a dog who greets everyone at the front door, and a job that is just enough to distract her from it all. An old friend is a reliable and priceless gift, and her new friends share her daily situations and concerns.
Only when one of her son's depression becomes undeniable and the effects on the family become palpable does she find herself focusing more and compensating for it -
perhaps blinding her to the fact that her daughter's boyfriend, a family friend, has become obsessed with her oldest child.
When an unspeakable act of violence leaves Mary Beth injured, dazed and questioning herself, she finds a way to cope with what she has left: a son -
himself a victim -
shadows of love and doubt, and a resolve to survive in light of a situation she could never have imagined.
It is the ties of family, the bending connections to friends and the blind forgiveness of grief that create her unconscious determination to go on.
In the clear and vibrant style that defines Pulitzer Prize winning author Anna Quindlen's writing, she writes her sixth novel -
and it is her undeniable ability to bring a story to bone-cutting focus that makes "Every Last One" an unforgettable and compelling read.