The Paragraph Ranch by Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon is a fast-paced novel set in the Texas High Plains near Lubbock. Dee Bennett-Kaufmann’s acerbic mother, Mama Alice Bennett, survives a mysterious accident with injuries including two broken wrists in casts, and needing long-term care.
Dee’s brother coaches a winning high school football team, and her sister sells real estate in the Dallas metroplex. Dee is finishing a term teaching creative writing at a North Carolina university.
PH Dee, as she is referred to by her sister, is looking forward to a summer finishing and finding a publisher for her book through a prestigious sought-after fellowship in Massachusetts. Publi-cation will salvage her career that hinges on publication for her to move up.
The opening paragraph declares: there’s not a soul in eleven hundred square miles willing to take on the care Mary Alice Bennett for love or money. Of course, who in their right mind could blame them?
Returning to Texas with so much at stake, Dee engineers a series of unorthodox strategies and creative tradeoffs to keep her options in play –and despite herself finds friendship, love and the power of words in this unlikeliest places.
This book is for everyone who likes a good read, Texas settings, family dramas, or who has thought, or said, “I could write a book. . .”
Mama Alice’s comments DO grate, like Elizabeth Stout’s Olive Kitterage, another great read.
The plot unfolds with strong twists and turns and zaps you and solves the mystery of the accident with a cleverly planned ending.
Every creative writer and writing group should add this novel to their must have list. Follow the rules that head every chapter, and solve the mystery of the accident.
Who knows what lurks in the hearts and minds of men? The Shadow and The Paragraph Ranch know.
Reviewed by Nilah Rodgers Turner http://nilahrodgersturner.weebly.com
Dee’s brother coaches a winning high school football team, and her sister sells real estate in the Dallas metroplex. Dee is finishing a term teaching creative writing at a North Carolina university.
PH Dee, as she is referred to by her sister, is looking forward to a summer finishing and finding a publisher for her book through a prestigious sought-after fellowship in Massachusetts. Publi-cation will salvage her career that hinges on publication for her to move up.
The opening paragraph declares: there’s not a soul in eleven hundred square miles willing to take on the care Mary Alice Bennett for love or money. Of course, who in their right mind could blame them?
Returning to Texas with so much at stake, Dee engineers a series of unorthodox strategies and creative tradeoffs to keep her options in play –and despite herself finds friendship, love and the power of words in this unlikeliest places.
This book is for everyone who likes a good read, Texas settings, family dramas, or who has thought, or said, “I could write a book. . .”
Mama Alice’s comments DO grate, like Elizabeth Stout’s Olive Kitterage, another great read.
The plot unfolds with strong twists and turns and zaps you and solves the mystery of the accident with a cleverly planned ending.
Every creative writer and writing group should add this novel to their must have list. Follow the rules that head every chapter, and solve the mystery of the accident.
Who knows what lurks in the hearts and minds of men? The Shadow and The Paragraph Ranch know.
Reviewed by Nilah Rodgers Turner http://nilahrodgersturner.weebly.com