Overview
The Dust Bowl sweeps a handsome stranger into a small Colorado town to dangerous effect
1937. It’s been seven years since the dust storms started in Colorado. Folks can barely remember a time when the clouds were filled with rain instead of dirt, and when the fields were green instead of brown. High school student Martha Helen Kessler and her family are luckier than most; they still eke out a living from the land. Even so, evidence of the Dust Bowl’s grim impact on families, especially on the women who bear the brunt of their husbands’ frustration and their children’s hunger, is everywhere.
When Martha Helen’s compassionate mother insists they take in Otis Hobbs, a handsome drifter who saves a local boy from a vicious storm, she quickly discovers a darker side to their rural community. Suspicion, jealousy, and prejudice grip their neighbors – and emotions reach a frenzy after Martha Helen’s best friend, Frankie, disappears and is then found murdered. Ultimately, Martha Helen is forced to make sense of her conflicting feelings and loyalties in order to help find retribution and to reconcile the difference between the law and justice.
Full of period detail and Sandra Dallas’s trademark focus on the lives of women, The Hired Man entertains and ultimately surprises.
Review
Sandra Dallas has done it again!
1937. It’s been seven years since the dust storms started in Colorado. When Martha Helen’s compassionate mother insists they take in Otis Hobbs, a handsome drifter who saves a local boy from a vicious storm, she quickly discovers a darker side to their rural community. Then, Helen’s best friend, Frankie, disappears and is then found murdered. Ultimately, Martha Helen is forced to make sense of her conflicting feelings and loyalties in order to help find retribution and to reconcile the difference between the law and justice.
Talk about conflicting feelings! This author is a master at leading the reader through so many realms of emotions. Not only that, you also see all the elements of human nature. And as you guessed, not all of that is good nature.
This is a story of murder, prejudice, assumptions, hardships and community. It is very atmospheric! I could feel the pain and suffering…and so much more! And don’t sleep on young Mary Helen! She is tougher than she looks.
I listened to this in one day. I could not stop! The narrator, Jesse Vilinsky, is amazing! And I mean amazing!
Need a book to take you on a roller coaster of emotions….THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
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