Jeannette Wall's
"Half Broke Horses"
Delightful Ready About
Depression Era Southwest

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Jeannette Walls, the acclaimed author of "The Glass Castle" brings us the "true life novel" of her grandmother's life in the Southwest, in a poignant approach to life on a remote ranch, early days in the classroom of a one-room schoolhouse, and "carving" a life during the Depression Era amidst the many obstacles of the times. Follow Lily Casey Smith, as she "takes life by the horns" and embraces the obstacles that are thrown her way, as she raises two children, herds cattle, stares down the school board members, and fashions a life of "no regrets" in the remote regions of West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. If you ever wondered what life was like in the formative years of the region, go no further. Lily lived the life and "tamed" it with her grit and tenacity!

The book opens with Lily and her brother and sister going to get the milch cows for the evening milking, on their remote West Texas homestead, and before they could get back to the house, a massive flood rages across the valley. Lily shepherds her younger brother and sister to a tree and they hang-on for dear life, throughout the night as floodwaters rage around them. Lily talks her siblings into hanging on and not letting go.....the incident will lay the foundation of the "grit" that Lily will need to meet obstacles in her life, as she grows to adulthood and faces adversity.

 

 

Lily mentions going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and viewing the statue of
the "Madonna of the Trail," and her affinity to the hardships that the pioneer
woman suffered on the Great Plains.

 

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did...we went to bring the cows in for their milking...they were acting all bothered. Instead of milling around at the gate, like they usually did at milking time, they were standing stiff-legged and strait-tailed, twitching their heads around, listening....A flash flood was coming!"

                                                                     Lily describing the flood that would send her and her siblings
                                                                           to hang from a tree throughout a night.

"Dad said High Lonesome, as the area of our homestead was known, wasn't a place for the soft of head or the weak of heart....."

                                                                     Lily describing the homestead where she grew up.

Walls' book pictures the many, many hardships endured by our grandparents, as they worked and lived on remote places in the Southwest, and the "can do" spirit that helped them survive.

This book is a great addition to your Southwest history collection, as it reveals a "first person" account of life in the area, before many, many of our modern conveniences. Lily Casey Smith will be endeared to your heart for her "grit and gumption" regardless of what life dealt her!

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