Mark Spragg

Seeking to escape her brutal boyfriend and hoping to introduce her daughter, Griff, to the grandfather she has never met, widow Jean Gilkyson seeks refuge in her late husband's Wyoming hometown with her estranged father-in-law, who blames her for his son's death. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 60,000 first printing.

An Unfinished Life

Presents fourteen lyrical essays that describe the challenges and joys of growing up on a Wyoming dude ranch in the Shoshone National Forest.

Where Rivers Change Direction

Chronicles the story of two lifelong friends who love the same woman, and the journey that will take them through the West and into the heart of their relationship.

The Fruit of Stone

The inhabitants of Ishawooa, Wyoming have enough to contend with on a daily basis, from runaway children to Lou Gehrig's disease, even before a teenager is found dead in a meth lab and motorcycle rallies and rodeos fill the tiny local jail.

Bone Fire

Legend and Lore of the Wild Horses

Thunder of the Mustangs

Jean Gilkyson is living in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realises this kind of life has to stop, especially for her nine-year-old daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's family are dead and her father-in-law, the only person who could take them in, wishes she was too. Einar Gilkyson blames Jean for the accident that took his son's life, and has chosen to go on living simply because without him his oldest friend, Mitch, wouldn't survive. Bound together like brothers since the Korean War, the intimacy between the two men has deepened after Mitch was crippled in a bear attack while Einar helplessly watched. As Einar and Jean struggle with their memories, it is left to spirited and courageous Griff to turn their loss, wrath and recrimination into reconciliation, love, and, most importantly, a new life.

In an extraordinary tale of love and forgiveness, Mark Spragg brings us this novel of a complex, prodigal homecoming. Jean Gilkyson has a history of choosing the wrong men. After yet another night of argument turned to violence with her boyfriend, Roy, Jean knows it's time to leave—if not for herself, then for her ten-year-old daughter, Griff. But the only place they can afford to go is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's family is dead and her deceased husband's father Einar wishes Jean was too. Of course, Griff knows none of this—only that here in Wyoming, with a grandfather she has never known and his crippled friend Mitch, she may finaly be able to find a home.

Jean Gilkyson, pregnant when her husband was killed, is raising their daughter, Griff, in an Iowa trailer house with yet another brutal boyfriend, when she realizes this can't go on. But the only refuge available is a town in Wyoming where her loved ones are dead and her father-in-law wishes she was too., For a decade he has blamed her for his son's death, choosing to go on living himself largely because his oldest friend otherwise couldn't survive. Bound as close as brothers, they face old age on a faltering ranch, their interdependence even more acute after one was crippled and the other mauled by his own pain. Suddenly Griff meets this grandfather she'd never heard about, not to mention a black cowboy confined to the bunkhouse, and irrepressibly claims her new life in hopes of turning grievous loss and recrimination toward reconciliation and love.

Mark Spragg grew up on the oldest dude ranch in Wyoming - a remote spread in the Shoshone National Forest. It is a sublime but unforgiving landscape, a place of unrelenting winds, pitiless blizzards, fierce rivers, and the men who work there have to be tough to survive. Spragg writes lyrically of this world, its animals - horses, bears, elk - and of its people, in particular his parents and John, an old cowboy who becomes the boy's mentor. This is a book about joy - Spragg's writing is miraculous; tough but beautiful, passionate and funny.

Mark Spragg

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