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The interwoven stories of three generations of a western Nebraska family illuminate its resilience and dignity amid hardship and change, from a farm wife struggling to support her children in the wake of her husband's death, to the devastating tragedy of World War II, to a family grieving over a failing farmstead. Original.
"Mother-daughter conflicts, age-old prejudices and mistrust, and generational divides challenge the members of this temporary community as they bump up against each other seeking identity, acceptance, and healing"--
The inner worlds of characters isolated by geography and habit are revealed in a novel, set in the Nebraska Sandhills, about an aging widow on the verge of losing her family's ranch and her sixteen-year old pregnant granddaughter who visits her for the summer. Original.
"In her stories Pamela Carter Joern makes it clear you can go home again because home never leaves you. Whether telling stories about the writing life or fighting cancer, these stories provide a sense of the anchor home provides regardless of where one lives or travels"--
In writing both rich and evocative, Pamela Carter Joern conjures the small plains town of Reach, Nebraska, where residents are stuck tight in the tension between loneliness and the risks of relationships. With insight, wry humor, and deep compassion, Joern renders a cast of recurring characters engaged in battles public and private, epic and mundane: a husband and wife find themselves the center of a local scandal; a widow yearns for companionship, but on her own terms; a father and son struggle with their broken relationship; a man longs for escape from a community’s limited view of love; a boy’s misguided attempt to protect his brother results in a senseless tragedy. In the town of Reach, where there is hope and hardship, connections may happen in surprising ways or lie achingly beyond grasp.
In prose as clean and beautiful as the stark prairie setting, The Plain Sense of Things tells the stories of three generations of a western Nebraska family. These tales of sorrow and hope are connected by the sinews of need and flawed love that keep families together. A farm wife struggles to support her children after the death of her second husband; a young woman grapples with the shift from girlhood to motherhood; World War II wreaks havoc on those left behind; and a failing farmstead breaks a family's heart. Amid hardship and change, these interwoven stories illuminate the resilience and d.
Toby Jenkins, the oldest surviving member of her family, has opened a summer residence program in the Nebraska Sandhills for the wounded and broken, misfits and dreamers. Besides her guests--a minister on sabbatical and a woman recovering from cancer treatment--Toby is joined by Anita and Luís, her hired help; Anita's brother Gabe; and someone Toby least expected, her nearly estranged daughter, Nola Jean. Mother-daughter tensions, age-old prejudices, and generational divides challenge the members of this disparate community as they bump up against each other. Parallel conflicts occur against the backdrop of a changing rural landscape where history clashes with evolving mores. In this thoughtful and moving novel Pamela Carter Joern probes the complications of family relationships, identity, belonging, and the impact of long-held secrets.
The departed men in her life still have plenty to say to Corey. Her father, a legendary rodeo cowboy who punctuated his lifelong pronouncements with a bullet to his head, may be the loudest. But in this story of Montana?a story in which the old West meets the new and tradition has its way with just about everyone?it is Corey?s voice we listen to. In this tour-de-force of voices big and small, sure and faltering, hers comes across resonant and clear, directing us to the heart of the matter.
The most controversial ecumenical church event in decades, the first Re-Imagining Conference shook the foundations of mainline Protestantism. In this anthology of ninety-five articles, reflections, letters, poetry, and artwork, participants in the conference offer a candid, inside look at what actually occurred in Minneapolis, and at the aftershocks that followed. Amid the cacophonous rumors, hearsay, and ideological clashes that continue to stalk Re-Imagining, the clear voices in this remarkable volume reveal fresh ways of understanding faith, God, and community. They speak to the church today--and to the church of tomorrow.
“It’s not going to kill you,” a mother tells her protesting child. And maybe it won’t, but that doesn’t mean anyone is getting off scot-free. A no-man's-land between exoneration and repercussion, this is the place where the people in Erin Flanagan’s stories live: in events as big as 9/11 and as small as an infatuation with a dog groomer, as meaningful as the birth of a baby and as senseless as a car crash, as unique as a 1980s air band living out dreams for a city in decline and as common as an afterschool job that sucks. These stories accept that we all make mistakes, but it’s what we do in the aftermath that defines us. Sharp-witted and tenderhearted, these are stories in which readers will find people they know but never really knew until now.