Heart of the Beast: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

Twenty-eight-year-old Iris Steele has just inherited her family's ranch in northeast Oregon. It is the ranch where she grew up herding cattle and harvesting wheat, and where her brother and father both died. It is also, it turns out, land that the Nez Perce Indians now claim is rightfully theirs. As Iris begins to piece together the property's legitimate ownership, she unearths not only her family's turbulent history but also two centuries of tortured relationships between homesteaders and Native Americans. Struggling with a new crop and a fragile romance, she must ultimately confront the true nature of her legacy. In astonishing language, Joyce Weatherford combines unflinching descriptions of ranch life with the sensuous beauty of the Oregon landscape. part romance, mystery, courtroom drama, and history, Heart of the Beast is a family saga of epic power and import.

Reviews

Sybil Downing The Denver Post A family's driving obsession with the land that has bound it together for generations is explored with stunning insight and literary skill...Heart of the Beast is an all-around winner. Elizabeth Strout author of Amy and Isabelle This is a story that is large and brave, told in a voice that dares to linger on the details of both the beauty of the landscape and the dangers of a family's inner terrain. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Astonishingly accomplished...relentlessly suspenseful...played out against a pitiless, magnificently dangerous northwestern landscape.

Author Bio

Joyce Weatherford's family landed in Oregon via the Oregon Trail in 1851. Joyce grew up as a fifth-generation farmer working on her family's ranch, and she now lives in California with her husband and sons.