The Sounds of Rescue, the Signs of Hope

In 1950 Amarillo writer Loula Grace Erdman meticulously researched the lives of Texas Panhandle homesteaders in the 1800s for this novel about newlyweds Bethany and Wade Cameron, who struggle to farm land in the midst of cattle country. Their challenges include prairie fire, drought, and blizzard, but the characters' lives are illuminated through the small details, such as collecting buffalo bones to make payments on their new home and keeping an eye on supplies during a long winter. Bethany's perspective on the harsh Panhandle life drives the story, and narrator Linda Stephens brings that point of view to life with a voice as defiant and steadfast as that of Erdman's heroine. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine