“Sarah’s Quilt,” by Nancy Turner (Thomas Dunne Books, 416 pages, $24.95)
The year is 1906 and Sarah Agnes Prine, the gritty young girl readers came to know in Turner’s memorable debut novel, “These Is My Words,” is the mother of two nearly grown boys and running a ranch in the badlands of southern Arizona Territory.
Over the intervening years, she has buried two husbands. The first she married out of necessity, the second for love. Sarah is proud of her ability to ride as well as any man. She is a crack shot and knows how to raise cattle. But after a three-year drought, the wells on the ranch have gone dry. Unless she finds water soon she will lose the ranch her beloved husband, Jack, began and with it the dreams she holds for her sons.
Sarah receives news that her brother and his family are trapped in the Great San Francisco Earthquake. Taking what little money she has, she and her father-in-law set off to find them with limited success. In her absence, her mother has hired a strange man who claims to be a water witch.
Then a 15-year-old boy named Willie shows up, claiming to be her nephew and the rightful heir to the ranch, though her sons have their doubts. As the straits of the ranch grow more desperate, Sarah is tempted by the marriage proposal of a wealthy and politically ambitious neighbor. But the thought of her ranch becoming his bothers her. And there is the passion she still feels for her husband, Jack, and the growing friendship with a new neighbor to consider.
Authentic in its detail, the novel’s pace and intriguing cast of characters are reminiscent of Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove.” A sensitive, vibrant story about the strength of love and family told in the voice of a woman who must be reckoned with.
“A Land of Sheltered Promise,” by Jane Kirkpatrick (WaterBrook Press, 400 pages, $13.99)
Jane Kirkpatrick, winner of the 1995 Wrangler Award from the Western Heritage Center for “A Sweetness to the Soul,” builds her latest novel around three generations of women whose lives are changed on a remote ranch in Oregon’s high desert.
In 1901, Eva Bruner is the 16-year-old bride of a sheep herder who is trying to prove up a homestead claim. Out with his sheep one day he shoots and kills a prominent sheep man. In spite of claims of self-defense, he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Struggling with private doubts, Eva doggedly tries to raise her daughter alone and get on with her life. But it is not until a strange event occurs that the transformation of her future seems possible.
Eighty years pass and the land is now occupied by an elaborate commune protected by helicopters and armed guards. The cult’s leader promises that only true believers will survive the holocaust predicted to occur in 15 years.
Among his thousands of followers is a young woman who has taken the name Razi. Her mother believes that her daughter is being held against her will and goes to rescue her and her granddaughter. What she encounters proves far more than she expected, including an attempted murder and an act of biological terrorism.
By 1997, little remains of the abandoned commune; the ranch has largely reverted to pasture. Living in Portland, Jill Hartley, a graduate student, and her husband accompany friends to a remote ranch where they hope to start a Young Life camp run by a non-denominational Christian group. Though her husband is taken with the natural beauty and can visualize the camp, Jill only sees the isolation. Their marriage wavers as she struggles to decide what course her life should take.
Of the novel’s three sections, the first is the most memorable. The author’s thorough knowledge of Oregon history and the setting provide a powerful backdrop for Eva to change from a girl initially filled with doubts to a woman with the courage to confront them.
The use of the commune in the second section is an appropriately jarring and largely effective contrast. The mother’s horror and the impunity with which the cult leaders use the law and people’s faith are chilling. So the novel’s final section, which offers hope that the ranch will not only be restored but once again used by good people, brings the story full circle.
Fans of Kirkpatrick’s Christian series are sure to enjoy this latest addition inspired by actual events.
Sybil Downing is a Boulder novelist who writes a monthly column on new regional nonfiction releases.
