Hard Country

A Novel

By: Michael McGarrity

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory - a job that will forever change his life.

©2012 Michael McGarrity (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Outstanding!

A great story, well written - and we'll read by George Guidall. An epic saga of the early days in the old west. Reminded me of Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry, but without the humor. In spite of that, it's a terrific story to begin the trilogy. I can't wait to listen to "Backlands", book 2.

Great story, details, and narration

Loved it, the narrator is incredible. I enjoyed every chapter, and didn't want to stop listening.

You must listen!!!

I listen to about 35 books a year and this is a heartwarming story of 3 generations of western men and women who suffer happiness and heartbreak. A great Audible book, I loved it and she'd tears.

Most excellent

Fascinating story and superbly narrated. It could have been broken down into several books but I like it the way done.

Similar to Lonesome Dove, but different

Would you listen to Hard Country again? Why?

Like Lonesome Dove, one of few I'll never tire of listening to again and again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hard Country?

Very hard to narrow down to just one.

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

Everything

Who was the most memorable character of Hard Country and why?

Cal and Emma. Cal for his humanity and good humor in the most difficult of times and Emma for her indomitable will to survive the worst, make the best of it, and leave things better.

Any additional comments?

Not since Lonesome Dove have I fell absolutely in love with a book and its characters.

Good

It was good’, good naration a specialty changing voice for characters,great story as well.

Lonesome Dove in New Mexico

More thinking, less action, sparser landscape, still wonderful. Great to have a story with characters more real than heroic Terrific narrator.

A Frontier Family's History

The book title gives you the basic story. This is a western, but the author has obviously done his research to help you feel you begin to understand what life was like at this turning point in American history. The book spans several generations of the Kerney family from 1875 through 1912. And, it’s a hard life when life itself was cheap. In the first chapter John Kerney, a Civil War veteran, has taken his new bride out to West Texas and built the start of a ranch. His brother followed and has a ranch nearby (at least near in terms of West Texas distances). John wants to get away and appreciates the lonely landscapes. When his wife goes into labor, he races to his brother’s ranch to bring his brother and his wife back to help. When he returns, he finds that his wife has given birth to a son, but has lost too much blood and is dead. That’s just the beginning of the hardships. John ends up giving up on his ranch and leaving his infant son with his sister-in-law to care for. He becomes a drifter cowboy, though he later moves further west to start another ranch in the Tularosa basin of New Mexico. I don’t want to give away the story, but the description of life is less in terms of what they did and more in terms of the personality of the people that either were attracted to the west or the personality that the west created through the difficult life in such a remote area, at the mercy of the climate, when there was always a suspicion of any sign of some approaching, which could be a friend, a drifter, a band of Native Americans who had escape from one of the reservations, or an outlaw. There is also a theme of the psychological toll of war on a man. John Kerney obviously suffered psychologically in the Civil War, his son fought with the Rough Riders in Cuba and returned unwilling to talk about the war, and his son went to serve in WW 1 in the trenches of France. This takes you through the time when the railroad came, telegraph lines were strung, electricity became available in the towns and eventually the first mechanized tractors and automobiles. When I started reading, I didn’t realize that this was the first of a three-part series. I usually am circumspect about reading books in a series because I don’t want to get roped into feeling that I have to read them all, but after reading this, I’m interested in reading the followup stories and following the family on into the modern world. It’s not your typical shoot-em-up western or John Wayne man’s man applying a modern way of thinking on the past. It just feels normal while being completely abnormal in terms of today. If you like Lonesome Dove or True Grit, you’ll love this as well.

Struggled with the constant death of the character

this story may be historically factual but it was too dark for my taste. Still I love to listen to George narrate.

Excellent story

This novel demonstrates a great knowledge of the New Mexico landscape and lore of the area during the early years of the United States westward expansion. The author did a great job of telling a story about the start of a ranching family its hardships and its victories. Great character development and historical perspective.