The Shinnery
A Novel
by Kate Anger
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Pub Date Sep 01 2022 | Archive Date Aug 31 2022
University of Nebraska Press | Bison Books
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Description
Seventeen-year-old Jessa Campbell thrives on the Shinnery, her family’s homestead in 1890s Texas, bordered by acres of shin oaks on the rolling plains. Without explanation her father sends her away to settle a family debt. A better judge of cattle than of men, Jessa becomes entangled with a bad one. Everything unravels after she puts her trust in Will Keyes. When Jessa returns home to the Shinnery, pregnant and alone, her father goes on a mission of frontier justice, with devastating consequences. In the aftermath Jessa fights for her claim to the family farm and for a life of independence for herself and her sisters. A story of coming-of-age, betrayal, and revenge, The Shinnery is inspired by the author’s family history and a trial that shook the region.
Advance Praise
“Kate Anger’s gripping, timely novel drew me in from the first page and held me captive until the last. This powerful, courageous Texas frontier story about lost innocence, brutal betrayal, revenge, and redemption is beautifully told with nuanced sensitivity and compassion. The Shinnery is historical fiction at its best.”—Ann Weisgarber, author of The Glovemaker
“The Shinnery is a tense (at times), realistic image of family resilience, written with an understanding that while technology changes, people do not. The characters come to life in moving dialogue, and the whole book is as genuine as a Texas sunset.”—Nancy Turner, author of Light Changes Everything
“It’s a remarkable feat to take a true family history and craft it—with imagination, lyrical narrative voices, and deeply felt characters—into a novel that makes clear the precarious danger of life in early Texas. Kate Anger’s The Shinnery is a vivid, evocative book of a young woman whose life presages so much of what we value now: bravery, loyalty, and fierce determination for her own survival.”—Susan Straight, author of In the Country of Women
“With its emphasis on family and place, The Shinnery evokes a more grown-up version of the Little House on the Prairie books or a Western version of Little Women, but it’s also very much its own fresh and moving creation. Kate Anger has given us unforgettable characters in these pages, high stakes, and such lively, beautiful, deeply observant writing, it often took my breath away. The Shinnery is a shimmering triumph.”—Gayle Brandeis, author of Many Restless Concerns
“Jessa Campbell loves everything about the beautiful hardscrabble Texas ranch where she’s been raised, and she’s so much a creation of that landscape that when she’s forced to leave to earn money from a couple in town, she is unmoored, entirely out of her element. Jessa is an innocent abroad, and her dizzying tumble from that innocence is brutally, beautifully realistic. The Shinnery is a superbly rendered story of love and shame and the will to survive.”—Jamie Harrison, author of The Center of Everything
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781496231383 |
| PRICE | $21.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 268 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Kathryn M, Reviewer
this was a great historical novel, I loved getting to this time-period and meeting the characters. It was great to watch the characters grow. The story was a really well done story and I could feel the struggle that was happening in this book. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and I felt the emotions during this story, they felt like a true family. Kate Anger is a great writer and I look forward to where she goes from here.
"They nodded. She waited less than ten seconds after they left to slide open the window and slip outside. She ran. Fear made her fast. She considered running all the way home. Ten miles back to the Shinnery. But then her father would know everything, be crushed by it."
sara a, Reviewer
A mesmerizing read both for the story and the excellent writing itself! The story is so engaging that I simply couldn't put it down until I finished. The author is excellent at portraying both her characters and her setting. I could see everything clearly in my mind and I felt like I was right there, experiencing it myself. This is the kind of book I'd use in a literature or a history class because I would be confident that my students would totally engage with the subject matter and I know it would provoke all kinds of discussion. It's right up there with To Kill A Mockingbird. I can't wait to read what the author writes next. I hope this will gain wide readership.
Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book. It's a total keeper!
Phillip D, Reviewer
I love coming-of-age tales with female protagonists. Think Ree Dolly in Daniel Woodrell's WINTER'S BONE or the incomparable Mattie Ross in Charles Portis's classic, TRUE GRIT. Now Kate Anger has added to that wonderful tradition with the story of Jessa Campbell. Set in the late 1900s in Texas, seventeen-year-old Jessa is unexpectedly sent away by her father to settle a family debt. In her lonely and dangerous travels, she becomes involved with a treacherous man named Will Keyes, and ends up pregnant and abandoned. Upon finding her way back home, her father, furious, sets out on a vengeance tour. What happens will forever alter the course for this family. Anger's writing is beautiful and lush. She brings alive the flora and landscape like an artist with a brush. Some of her sentences are just breathtaking. This hardscrabble but poetic tale is highly recommended.
Joseph W, Reviewer
A great story told in the time period and vernacular of the era. Its hard not reading this with a southern accent in your mind. Jessa is a great character to admire and route for.
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