Hard Winter by Johnny D. BoggsISBN: 9781594148033
Publication Date: 2009-12-09
Reviewer: Ramona Lucius, Librarian II
Spur Award winner Johnny D. Boggs ranks as one of the best, if not the best, living writers of Westerns, and Hard Winter is one of his best (Camp Ford is another). This is no shoot-em-up, but rather a thoughtful, realistic portrait of ranch life. It's told within the narrative frame of a grandfather sharing with his grandson the story of the year that changed his life, 1886, when as a teen he set out from Texas with two friends to find their fortunes in Montana. Rivalries between competing ranches and competing beaux erupt against a blizzard that seems to never end.