AWRW Book Review: Maud’s Line by Margaret Verble @HMHBooks #CherokeeNation #BookReview #HistoricalFiction #WomensFiction

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE

A debut novel chronicling the life and loves of a headstrong, earthy, and magnetic heroine

Eastern Oklahoma, 1928. Eighteen-year-old Maud Nail lives with her rogue father and sensitive brother on one of the allotments parceled out by the U.S. Government to the Cherokees when their land was confiscated for Oklahoma’s statehood. Maud’s days are filled with hard work and simple pleasures, but often marked by violence and tragedy, a fact that she accepts with determined practicality. Her prospects for a better life are slim, but when a newcomer with good looks and books rides down her section line, she takes notice. Soon she finds herself facing a series of high-stakes decisions that will determine her future and those of her loved ones.

Maud’s Line is accessible, sensuous, and vivid. It will sit on the bookshelf alongside novels by Jim Harrison, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and other beloved chroniclers of the American West and its people.

Hardcover, 294 pages

Published July 14th 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Historical Women’s Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, 20th Century Literature

Literary Awards:

Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Fiction (2016)

Goodreads

Photo Credit: April L Wood

MAUD’S LINE is a great debut novel by Margaret Verble. It takes place in Oklahoma, in 1928, on a parceled allotment in Eastern Oklahoma — (given to the Cherokees after the Trail of Tears). The heroine, Maud Nail, is a Cherokee woman who works hard from sunrise to sunset, caring for her temperamental father, Mustard, and sensitive brother, Lovely. She tends to the chickens and other farm animals, as well as caring for their home. While she does her daily duties, she dreams of indoor plumbing and plaster on the walls, and sees a glimmer of hope in such a future, when a peddler rides through selling books.

I would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the author for providing me with a hardcover copy in exchange for a book review. 🙂

This novel reminds me of all the great pioneer novels of the early 20th century that I enjoyed reading growing up. I haven’t read a book like this in a long time and I didn’t realize how much I missed reading historical fiction about Native Americans until I read this story. I would like to thank the author for reacquainting me with a genre I missed!

I absolutely loved protagonist Maud Nail and her temper often had me in hysterics. I loved her fiery nature! My favorite part of the book was when she was upset with Billy for peeing on the front lawn, and they got into a shouting match about how even chickens know enough not to foul their nests… oh my God… it was hilarious! She was hilarious!

The ending surprised me and I’m not sure what to think about it. I definitely wasn’t expecting that twist. I hope she got her happily-ever-after through the decision she made.

Highly recommended. 🙂  

PURCHASE — Amazon, USA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margaret Verble, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has set her novel on her family’s Indian allotment land near Ft. Gibson, OK. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.