by Maile Meloy
First published 2002
In "Ranch Girl," a foreman's daughter faces college acceptance while choosing between two different futures. Her decision will determine whether she stays in the familiar world of cattle and small town life or enters an uncertain adult world beyond the ranch. In "Tome," a disabled client turns a routine legal meeting violent when he holds a Samoan football player captive. Two couples navigate friendship and tragedy in "Four Lean Hounds, ca. 1976" after one member of their group dies unexpectedly. At the racetrack in "A Stakes Horse," a young woman confronts both gambling losses and personal relationships that mirror the same dangerous odds. These fourteen stories move between modern Montana towns and other times and places, including a World War II encounter between an American soldier and a British woman during the Blitz. Characters stand at moments of decision where violence, betrayal, and love intersect with the ordinary rhythms of Western life.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Montana
Period: 20th-century, World War II
176 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: violence