by Kirby Larson
First published 2007
Hattie Brooks has bounced between relatives her entire life, earning the nickname Hattie Here-and-There. At sixteen, she makes a bold decision to travel from Iowa to Montana Territory to claim her deceased uncle's homestead near Vida. The law requires her to prove up the land by living on it and making improvements. Winter brings brutal blizzards, summer delivers drought, and the work never stops. Hattie writes letters to her friend Charlie, who fights in France during the Great War, and sends articles to her hometown newspaper. The German immigrant Mueller family becomes her lifeline, offering friendship and support. But anti-German sentiment sweeps the community, pressuring Hattie to choose loyalty to country over loyalty to friends. She faces this moral crisis while battling the elements and backbreaking labor. A devastating tragedy forces Hattie to reconsider what home truly means and whether staying on the land is worth the cost.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, world-war-i
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Iowa, Montana Territory, Vida
Period: Great War
320 pages · Paperback · Ember