One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

Wyoming, 1870.

For as long as they have lived on the frontier, the Bemis and Webber families have relied on each other. With no other settlers for miles, it is a matter of survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with their neighbour, he doesn't think of survival. In one impulsive moment, a man is dead, Ernest is off to prison, and the women left behind are divided by rage and remorse.

Losing her husband to Cora's indiscretion is another hardship for stoic Nettie Mae. But as a brutal Wyoming winter bears down, Cora and Nettie Mae have no choice but to come together as one family to share the duties of working the land and raising their children. There's Nettie Mae's son, Clyde no longer a boy, but not yet a man who must navigate the road to adulthood without a father to guide him, and Cora's daughter, Beulah, who is as wild and untameable as her prairie home.

Bound by the uncommon threads in their lives and the challenges that lie ahead, Cora and Nettie Mae begin to forge an unexpected sisterhood. But when a love blossoms between Clyde and Beulah, bonds are once again tested, and these two resilient women must finally decide whether they can learn to trust each other or else risk losing everything they hold dear.

Reviews

A finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction EnchantingA skillful storyteller, Hawker serves up seemingly endless pages with vivid Wyoming descriptionsA suspenseful female-survivor story, about hardship on the frontier. Authorlink Set in 1876 Wyoming, One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow is a deftly crafted historical novel that fully captures hardscrabble life on the American frontier. An absorbing read from first page to last, and highly recommended. Midwest Book Review

Author Bio

Through unexpected characters and vivid prose, Olivia Hawker explores the varied landscape of the human spirit. Olivias interest in genealogy often informs her writing: her two novels, The Ragged Edge of Night and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow, are based on true stories found within her own family tree. She lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, where she homesteads at Longlight, a one-acre microfarm dedicated to sustainable permaculture practices. For more information, visit www.hawkerbooks.com/olivia.