WV Stitcher: The Widow Smalls and Other Stories ~ Jamie Lisa Forbes ~

File Size: 3141 KB
Print Length: 197 pages
Publisher: Pronghorn Press (October 15, 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00O29EW5E

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository
IndieBound

Publication Date: October 15, 2014

Thirty years of browbeating from rancher Bud Smalls has penned his wife, Leah, into emotional isolation. Now Bud is gone and Leah owns the ranch, but there is no help forthcoming from Bud’s brothers who want to force her out and take the ranch for themselves. When their attempt to humiliate her instead becomes her opportunity to succeed, Leah begins to find her way back to herself and learns how much she can gain by opening her heart.

The Widow Smalls is just one of the stories in this collection by the WILLA Award winning author of Unbroken, Jamie Lisa Forbes, who writes about the hardships of making a living from the land with an understanding that comes from first-hand experience. Her deftly drawn characters include star-crossed lovers, a young rancher facing his first test of moral courage, an inscrutable ranch hand claiming an impressive relative, a father making one last grasp for his daughter’s love and a child’s struggle to make sense of the world around her. Each will pull readers into the middle of their stories and keep them turning the pages.

My take on this book:

I have always been a fan of short stories and the collection of six that I found within the pages of The Widow Smalls and Other Stories were quite interesting. While each are totally stand alone there are themes that run through them that allow them to connect, such as the time period that each takes place, as well as the rural farm settings. Each story easily pulled me in and held my attention often throwing a surprise twist that caught me off guard. From the beginning story where a ranch owner suspects his newest hired hand is abusing his child bride and the shocking truth that he uncovers to a daughter coming home for Thanksgiving, or a young girl allowing readers to glimpse the days of her life, from learning to ride a pony to the loss of her dog, it's the simpleness of the stories and the richness of the characters that allowed me to connect.I really think my favorite story had to be The Widow Smalls, because we see a woman whose identity has been so entwined with her husband's for the last thirty years finally find value in her own strength and choices. Each story unfolds like a unique journey, and as each story ended I couldn't wait to see where the next story might take me.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review.

About the author:

Jamie Lisa Forbes was raised on a family ranch in southeastern Wyoming. She graduated from the University of Colorado with honors in 1977 and then lived in Israel until 1979, when she returned to her family’s ranch and raised her own family over the next fifteen years. Today, she writes and practices law in Greensboro, North Carolina. She enjoys spending time with her grandsons and playing old time Appalachian fiddle. With her Arabian horse, Cody, and her cattle dog, Reb, she still devotes part of her life to the outdoors.

Jamie Lisa Forbes won the WILLA Award for her novel ‘Unbroken’.

Follow the Tour: