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

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I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, Lake Union Publishing! Two of their children are teenagers, though, and they fall in love. This relationship tests the women further. Wyoming prairie in 1876, two isolated farming families live next door to each other and one night all hell breaks loose. When Ernest Bemis discovers his wife Cora and his neighbor Substance Webber cheating! The meek mild Ernest shoots Substance and kills him. He rides to the closest town, he informs the local sheriff about his crime and is jailed for two years. This is a book to be savored. The writing is lyrical, the descriptions are incredible, the characters are realistic, the pace is a little slow (hence the deduction of a half star), but the plot pulled me in from the first line onward. The Wyoming Territory of the 1860's comes through so well that I felt the cold, the wind, and the dirt that came with farm living on the prairie during the time. Wyoming Territory, 1876, can be a dreary place when you have but one neighbor and no other settlers for miles. Ernest Bemis acts on impulse when he finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with neighbor Substance Webber, resulting in one man dead, the other in jail. With her husband in jail, Cora Bemis and her four children are left without a husband and father, and widowed Nettie Mae Webber and Clyde, her only child, are left to manage by themselves.

Wyoming, 1876. The Bemis (Ernest/Cora and daughter Beulah) and Webber (Substance/Nettie Mae and son Clyde) have relied on each other for survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora with Substance, Ernest kills him. While Ernest is in prison, the women left behind, despite their feelings of anger and shame, they must live together in one roof to survive the harsh winter. Their children Clyde and Beulah inevitably start to develop feelings for each other. It's set on the frontier, but it's not *about* the frontier, if that makes sense. It's about death--how people cope with it (or avoid coping with it) and how different religious or spiritual perspectives will influence one's ability to handle death (or not handle it) to varying degrees. It's also about humans finding their proper place *in* nature instead of trying to exist apart from nature. I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Review Wyoming, 1876. 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 neighbor, 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. The story line is that prairie neighbors the Bemis and the Webbers live out miles away from town. One of the dudes decides to bonk the other one's wife and ends up dead. Other daddy goes off to jail. Leaving the two women and children on their own. That's a pretty big deal in the time period...several things can kill you. Freezing, starving, your neighbor....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 untamable as her prairie home. This is a dream Beulah is having about a worm eating the leaf of a beanstalk...."The worm moved its terrible jaws and spoke. God is said to be great, the worm told me, So great you cannot see Him. But God is small, with hands like threads, and they reach for you everywhere you go. The hands touch everything-even you, even me. What falls never falls; what grows has grown a thousand times, and will live a thousand times more. Wherever hand touches hand, the Oneness comes to stay. Once God has made a thing whole, it cannot be broken again." Mercies in Disguise: a story of hope, a family's genetic destiny, and the science that rescued them

The questions to be answered are: Will these two families survive the winter without the fathers? Will Nettie Mae and Cora accept each other or even become friends? What does the future hold for Beulah and Clyde? For Cora’s family? For Nettie Mae and Clyde? Somewhere in all the endless prose, internal dialogue, drawn-out narratives, and such is the answer to these questions. Problem is the pace at which the answers come. For most of the book, the four characters seemed to be loafing around talking about this or that in their head and accomplishing little. Clyde would have ridden up to the doctor’s house and said his neighbor had fallen from her horse and was unconscious. 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 untamable as her prairie home. For both women living in the same house over winter is going to be a challenge and Nettie Mae has every right to hate Cora! Nettie Mae isn't as stern as she seems, she's a natural home maker and she loves children. Cora isn't a bad person, she wasn't prepared for the lonely isolated life on the remote prairie, Substance took advantage of her weakness and she has to live with her shame of her infidelity. Surprisingly, I found Nettie Mae harder to love, though as the book went on I really did appreciate her growth. Nettie Mae held a lot of bias. Her perception of Cora was understandable, but I struggled a bit with how she treated Cora’s children—especially Beulah. Nettie Mae has a very limited view of the world and others. This felt understandable given that the life she has known has been very isolated. I liked seeing her learn more about tolerance as the story evolved.The descriptions of nature are vivid, but the relationships between the characters are barely there. For example, we have no inkling of the connection between Ernest Bemis (the murderer) and his four children. He sends them hand-carved gifts for Christmas, but we aren’t privy to any thoughts they may have had about the gifts. There is no examination of their longing for his presence.(Aside: Would Ernest be permitted to whittle with a knife in prison?) The 16-year-old son of one and the 13-year-old daughter of the other join forces in an attempt to handle the farm work on each holding without the benefit of help from anyone else. 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 neighbor, 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.

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