Winner of the Milkweek National Fiction Prize, in this collection of linked short stories, Laura Pritchett balances gritty material with genuine warmth and understanding of character. Hell's Bottom is more than a ranch. Home to Renny, one of those women who prefers "a little Hell swirled with their Heaven," and her husband, Ben, who's "gotten used to smoothing over Renny's excesses," the ranch has been the site of births and deaths of both cattle and children, as well as moments of amazing harmony and clear vision. A day of haying turns violent in "A New Name Each Day," while in "Rattlesnake...
Winner of the Milkweek National Fiction Prize, in this collection of linked short stories, Laura Pritchett balances gritty material with genuine warmt...
A supermarket clerk in a small dusty town, 22-year-old Libby is full of dreams but lacks the means to pursue them. When her younger sister Tess becomes pregnant, Libby convinces her not to have an abortion by promising to raise the child herself. But then Tess takes off after the baby is born and Libby finds that her new role puts her dreams that much further away. Her already haphazard life becomes ever more chaotic. The baby's father, a Christian rodeo rider, suddenly demands custody. Libby loses her job, her boyfriend abandons her, and her own mother harps on how stupid she was to make...
A supermarket clerk in a small dusty town, 22-year-old Libby is full of dreams but lacks the means to pursue them. When her younger sister Tess become...