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Publisher's Summary

After her life as she knows it is ended by heartbreak, Mary Rasmussen, a strong-willed and independent young ranch woman living in the Sandhills of western Nebraska, suddenly feels that all she has believed in - God, her instincts, the land itself - has failed her, and she abandons her cultural and emotional ties, succumbing to circumstances she thinks she is powerless to control. In a rash decision, she marries a conservative, patriarchal preacher who doesn't understand Mary, the ranching community, or anything beyond his own beliefs.
©2011 Ladette Randolph (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Randolph writes truthfully of the Nebraska Sandhills, a harsh land that exacts a brutal price for those who choose to love it. Having lived there, one never truly leaves, as Mary Rasmussen discovers, it etches its beautiful scar on body and soul." (Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife)
"With penetrating insight and solid authority on the rural West, Ladette Randolph has carved out a compelling saga of a young woman ripening into maturity. You cannot help but cheer for Mary Rasmussen. Randolph's work is tough, tender, and brave, a pitch-perfect take on the hard beauty of life on the Nebraska prairie." (Pamela Carter Joern, author of The Floor of the Sky and The Plain Sense of Things)
"A Sandhills Ballad is a poignantly written, lovely novel of the heartland that honors the best traditions of storytelling." (Jim Harrison, author of The English Major and Legends of the Fall)

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  • Susie
  • Santa Cruz, CA, United States
  • 05-14-13

A Great Plains Woman Who's Been Through the Mill

Randolph’s protagonist, Mary Rasmussen, is that woman. She was born and raised on a ranch in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska—aka The Sandhills. The story opens with Mary in the hospital, waking up to discover that she’s missing a leg, and her husband is dead. Her isolation and despair drive her to marry a preacher who makes her life unbearable.

I was wondering the whole time if she was going to murder him in his sleep— but I won’t spoil what actually happens…

3 of 5 people found this review helpful