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Maud's Line
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.
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.
294 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2015
729 people are currently reading
5218 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Verble
5 books315 followersMargaret 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.
Verble is a successful business woman and novelist. Her consulting work has taken her to most states and to several foreign countries. Upon the publication of her debut novel, Maud’s Line, Margaret whittled her consulting practice down to one group of clients, organ procurement organizations, tissue banks, and eye banks, to devote the rest of her time to writing. Maud’s Line is a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Verble is a successful business woman and novelist. Her consulting work has taken her to most states and to several foreign countries. Upon the publication of her debut novel, Maud’s Line, Margaret whittled her consulting practice down to one group of clients, organ procurement organizations, tissue banks, and eye banks, to devote the rest of her time to writing. Maud’s Line is a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 403 reviews
June 12, 2016
4.5 stars
I've not had the opportunity until this year to have read a year's Fiction Pulitzer Prize winner and its two runners-up so soon after their announcement in April. I liked them all in various degrees, though if it was my choice among the three titles culled for 2016, Maud's Line would get my vote for the honor. And, quite honestly, I'm more than a little stunned.
First: Margaret Verble?!? Who??? Aside from being one of the best writer's euonyms ever (for all I know about her, a pen name maybe?) this is, I think, her first novel. It's spare, austere, and gorgeous: pretty close to perfect (totally belying her writing inexperience). Second: she beats out my second pick of the Pultizer triumvirate, Kelly Link's delightfully bizarre short story collection Get In Trouble, with each tale "pitched to my wheelhouse", almost as if Ms. Link got pointers from Karen Russell and George Saunders to whip up a collection of magical realism that even I would love. Then, third: Ms. Verble's yarn is stuck in the middle of the 1920s. Not East Egg The Great Gatsby Roaring '20s, but post Trail of Tears-Indian relocation to crapville Oklahoma land allotments-1920s. Interesting, but totally depressing subject matter: just not my usual cuppa joe.
It might not help my persuasive efforts to mention that this not a plot-heavy book. It's more an extended character sketch than a novel filled with melodrama. (Though there is some of that, too; you just need to scratch through the surface a bit.) This is Maud Nail's story, just come of age in "the Bottoms", a snake infested morass of questionable government-alloted Oklahoma farmland outside of Tulsa, in her ramshackle hovel with her hothead father 'Mustard' and brother Lovely, along with dozens of extended Cherokee Indian family members, sprawled along either side of a "section line" (not much more than a rutted dirt road bisecting all their allotments. Maud aspires to a life outside of the Bottoms, where everyone knows your business, the monotony of farm life (when not bracing for floods and tornadoes) is staggering, and where you need to take a gun with you to the outhouse to stave off the omnipresence of slithering cottonmouths (and other marauders) outside your door. Her wandelust is fueled by a well-off (for the Bottoms, anyway)neighbor/probable distant relative Mr. Singer, who lends Maud books from his library (from novels like Elmer Gantry, Arrowsmith and The Great Gatsby to volumes of Cherokee legend).
The drama is kicked up a notch with a) the arrival of a travelling salesman to. the Bottoms (further spurring Maud's wanderlust); and b) some territorial pissings between the Nail family and a pair of moonshiner brothers neighboring their allotment.
Divulging more of the plot will spoil things (as there isn't much here to be had anyway). You'll want to read this, rather, for Maud, who (prim stodgy name aside) is one totally memorable heroine. Not everyone's going to cotton to this like I did (theres a few really gruesome scenes scattered here and there, and, well, Maud, shall.I delicately say, really puts the lust in wanderlust) but I definitely recommend this one. It floored me. Kudos to Ms.Verble for the Pulitzer nomination. (Write more, Margaret! I'm sure you've got much more to say. Your name all but guarantees it!)
I've not had the opportunity until this year to have read a year's Fiction Pulitzer Prize winner and its two runners-up so soon after their announcement in April. I liked them all in various degrees, though if it was my choice among the three titles culled for 2016, Maud's Line would get my vote for the honor. And, quite honestly, I'm more than a little stunned.
First: Margaret Verble?!? Who??? Aside from being one of the best writer's euonyms ever (for all I know about her, a pen name maybe?) this is, I think, her first novel. It's spare, austere, and gorgeous: pretty close to perfect (totally belying her writing inexperience). Second: she beats out my second pick of the Pultizer triumvirate, Kelly Link's delightfully bizarre short story collection Get In Trouble, with each tale "pitched to my wheelhouse", almost as if Ms. Link got pointers from Karen Russell and George Saunders to whip up a collection of magical realism that even I would love. Then, third: Ms. Verble's yarn is stuck in the middle of the 1920s. Not East Egg The Great Gatsby Roaring '20s, but post Trail of Tears-Indian relocation to crapville Oklahoma land allotments-1920s. Interesting, but totally depressing subject matter: just not my usual cuppa joe.
It might not help my persuasive efforts to mention that this not a plot-heavy book. It's more an extended character sketch than a novel filled with melodrama. (Though there is some of that, too; you just need to scratch through the surface a bit.) This is Maud Nail's story, just come of age in "the Bottoms", a snake infested morass of questionable government-alloted Oklahoma farmland outside of Tulsa, in her ramshackle hovel with her hothead father 'Mustard' and brother Lovely, along with dozens of extended Cherokee Indian family members, sprawled along either side of a "section line" (not much more than a rutted dirt road bisecting all their allotments. Maud aspires to a life outside of the Bottoms, where everyone knows your business, the monotony of farm life (when not bracing for floods and tornadoes) is staggering, and where you need to take a gun with you to the outhouse to stave off the omnipresence of slithering cottonmouths (and other marauders) outside your door. Her wandelust is fueled by a well-off (for the Bottoms, anyway)neighbor/probable distant relative Mr. Singer, who lends Maud books from his library (from novels like Elmer Gantry, Arrowsmith and The Great Gatsby to volumes of Cherokee legend).
The drama is kicked up a notch with a) the arrival of a travelling salesman to. the Bottoms (further spurring Maud's wanderlust); and b) some territorial pissings between the Nail family and a pair of moonshiner brothers neighboring their allotment.
Divulging more of the plot will spoil things (as there isn't much here to be had anyway). You'll want to read this, rather, for Maud, who (prim stodgy name aside) is one totally memorable heroine. Not everyone's going to cotton to this like I did (theres a few really gruesome scenes scattered here and there, and, well, Maud, shall.I delicately say, really puts the lust in wanderlust) but I definitely recommend this one. It floored me. Kudos to Ms.Verble for the Pulitzer nomination. (Write more, Margaret! I'm sure you've got much more to say. Your name all but guarantees it!)
August 27, 2015
A lot of the negative reviewers have stated this book is boring and nothing happens. We have gotten so used to continuous drama and action that we are not able to see the true value books like Maud's Line have to offer. A better adjective is slow. This book is slow - in a positive way. Things DO happen, but they are not the things people with ready access to cable tv, internet, video games and YouTube can necessarily relate to easily. The book takes place in Oklahoma in 1928, on lands that have been allotted to Native Americans. The author assumes some understanding of the United States and her relations and uneasy settlement with Native Americans. We are talking poor, hardscrabble lives for the most part. There are a lot of descriptive passages about making biscuits, bathing, and general hard labor. Maud dreams of things like electricity, indoor plumbing and shopping in a two-storey department store.
This book reminded me a lot of the love affair I had with John Steinbeck in college. The passages of every day life with a large, extended family were sympathetic and beautiful. In the dryness, you felt the heat and the dry dust about you. When it rained, you were there in the storm, with the thunder raging and the ozone in the air. I read reviewers who didn't like the sex and were appalled at the things Maud did. I can't address that without spoilers, but all I can say is: Really?! She was not promiscuous - she thought about her actions and why she took them. For a woman in her situation, she acted according to the mores of her people and her limited education.
And speaking of education, these are not dimwitted people. They are self-effacing, educated by their tribe and the earth. Even the drunkest of the lot enjoyed reading. Anything. Hard to find fault with people who are trying to better themselves in limited circumstances not entirely of their own making. This is a slow, quiet, moving book. Sort of a palate cleanser after all the paranormal romance, fast-paced urban fantasy and slasher murders I typically read.
I will give a warning for sensitive readers. The first 20 pages contain extreme violence against animals. It was bad enough that I considered not going further. I can handle most books with human violence because it's usually a pivotal plot point. This is, too, but the thing with the cow and the dog just about did me in emotionally. I've never fully recovered from the dog eviscerated by barbed wire in Where the Red Fern Grows and I was probably about 9 when I read that. That book stayed with me a long time, and I have a feeling Maud Nail will, too. True rating 4.5 stars. Extremely fine debut that will never be a bestseller but should be read more widely than it will be.
This book reminded me a lot of the love affair I had with John Steinbeck in college. The passages of every day life with a large, extended family were sympathetic and beautiful. In the dryness, you felt the heat and the dry dust about you. When it rained, you were there in the storm, with the thunder raging and the ozone in the air. I read reviewers who didn't like the sex and were appalled at the things Maud did. I can't address that without spoilers, but all I can say is: Really?! She was not promiscuous - she thought about her actions and why she took them. For a woman in her situation, she acted according to the mores of her people and her limited education.
And speaking of education, these are not dimwitted people. They are self-effacing, educated by their tribe and the earth. Even the drunkest of the lot enjoyed reading. Anything. Hard to find fault with people who are trying to better themselves in limited circumstances not entirely of their own making. This is a slow, quiet, moving book. Sort of a palate cleanser after all the paranormal romance, fast-paced urban fantasy and slasher murders I typically read.
I will give a warning for sensitive readers. The first 20 pages contain extreme violence against animals. It was bad enough that I considered not going further. I can handle most books with human violence because it's usually a pivotal plot point. This is, too, but the thing with the cow and the dog just about did me in emotionally. I've never fully recovered from the dog eviscerated by barbed wire in Where the Red Fern Grows and I was probably about 9 when I read that. That book stayed with me a long time, and I have a feeling Maud Nail will, too. True rating 4.5 stars. Extremely fine debut that will never be a bestseller but should be read more widely than it will be.
September 9, 2017
A book that will stick with me. The prose was different, not what I'm used to, but I grew to love the style of storytelling. There were rich descriptions of the day to day life of what it was like to be living as an Indian in Oklahoma around 1929. We follow the main character, Maude, eighteen, as she relates her hopes and dreams of living somewhere else, as the type of life she leads is rather a depressing rut. Her mother died when she was young. Her father is not much of a role model. Her brother is her best friend. And, they have an ongoing feud with their neighbors. There is no indoor plumbing, no luxuries of any kind. She finds solace in books, books she borrows from an older man who lives in town. Things begin to change for her when a peddler driving a blue covered wagon with two horses comes to the area. Shortly after, the school burns down, and the new guy in town, the peddler, the one Maude sees as her salvation, is the one hauled off to jail. Even after all of this, it took me a good ways into the book to fully engage. Then, I didn't want to put it down. I read it in one day.
September 6, 2025
Maud struggles on the reservation in a milieu where no one succeeds, there are no role models, and life is hard. There are many places where women are expected to carry the load, and the reservation is another one. A portrait of systemic racism and sexism with our protagonist being as strong as she can be despite everything being against her.
September 10, 2016
A glimpse into Native American farmers in Oklahoma, we know farming is grueling work with more heartache than rewards, it also provides little excitement as we discover in the narrative. The plot basically leads you by the hand with the mundane repetitive hard labor tasks of farming. Family issues, meanness within the community, exciting times when strangers roll into town, basically summarizes the plot. A murder occurs adding a dash of much needed excitement to an overall lackluster storyline.
I could have handled the rote chores of farm life as well as overall laid back small town lifestyle to a point but what killed the entire reading experience was the main protagonist Maud. As we become familiar with Maud we recognize her strength, independence, she serves as the main cog in the tending of her father and addled brother. She’s hardworking, fair to say she doesn’t really have a life of her own simply because she’s too busy keeping the family intact as best she can which is no easy feat not to mention exhausting. However, as we learn more of Maud we are privy to her sexual liberation, which is rare given the time period of 1920’s. What disturbed me most, I felt Maud walked a thin line of being sexually open and promiscuous . She gives herself a little too freely for my tastes. I also found myself annoyed with the amount of time Maud tried to terminate her unexpected pregnancy, I will use ‘unexpected’ loosely - given her multiple bed mates you know an accident is just around the bend. Her actions were off putting and I couldn’t wait for the story to end. One scene is especially crass making me cringe with Maud’s apathetic attitude even more along with her immature mindset.
This is definitely a story you’ll have to read yourself and discover if you’re on team Maud.
I could have handled the rote chores of farm life as well as overall laid back small town lifestyle to a point but what killed the entire reading experience was the main protagonist Maud. As we become familiar with Maud we recognize her strength, independence, she serves as the main cog in the tending of her father and addled brother. She’s hardworking, fair to say she doesn’t really have a life of her own simply because she’s too busy keeping the family intact as best she can which is no easy feat not to mention exhausting. However, as we learn more of Maud we are privy to her sexual liberation, which is rare given the time period of 1920’s. What disturbed me most, I felt Maud walked a thin line of being sexually open and promiscuous . She gives herself a little too freely for my tastes. I also found myself annoyed with the amount of time Maud tried to terminate her unexpected pregnancy, I will use ‘unexpected’ loosely - given her multiple bed mates you know an accident is just around the bend. Her actions were off putting and I couldn’t wait for the story to end. One scene is especially crass making me cringe with Maud’s apathetic attitude even more along with her immature mindset.
This is definitely a story you’ll have to read yourself and discover if you’re on team Maud.
July 15, 2015
Maud's days were made of wishing and hoping, hard work, and disappointment.
Living with her father and brother in the early 1900's and being the only woman in the house left her little time for herself. Mustard, her father, was not a hard worker and was a trouble maker. Lovely, her brother, thankfully helped Maud, and they helped each other calm down their father. Maud did a lot day dreaming but also a lot of men's work.
MAUD'S LINE is set in the Cherokee Lands of Oklahoma where each family had property lines and many relatives.
I liked how relatives lived very close to each other and looked out for each other, but the violence between some families was difficult to fathom.
MAUD’S LINE took us through her days as her thoughts wandered and as she had to make a decision that would change her life. Most were days of non-stop working, but Maud did manage to find time to read books thanks to her mother, a wealthy neighbor, and a traveling peddler's influence.
The characters all had their own problems and ideas about things. Maud was the main character, and at times, she was "out of line" in terms of her relationships. Maud knew what she wanted and did whatever she could to get what she wanted. Maud did everything for her family even though her father was not the most loving and caring.
You couldn't help but love Maud, but you will also question some of her decisions. Maud always seemed to be the first one on the scene of something gruesome and kept secrets that were t her detriment.
Ms. Verble's descriptive, lush writing will simply pull you in along with the cover.
I enjoyed MAUD’S LINE, and I hope you decide to read it. 4/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.
March 6, 2017
Μία από τις αγαπημένες μου κινηματογραφικές συνήθειες είναι να βλέπω κάποιες ανεξάρτητες ταινίες χαμηλού προϋπολογισμού όπου κυρίαρχο στοιχείο είναι η απλότητα. Σε αυτές η ροή της υπόθεσης ακολουθεί τους αργούς ρυθμούς της πραγματικής ζωής, τίποτα ιδιαίτερα συνταρακτικό και περίεργο δεν συμβαίνει και κάθε εξαιρετικό συμβάν παρουσιάζεται αρκετά υποτονικά, με τους ηθοποιούς να αποφεύγουνε τις υπερβολές. Τον λογοτεχνικό αντίστοιχο αυτών των ταινιών είναι κάποια βιβλία σαν αυτό εδώ.
Η συγγραφέας μας μεταφέρει στην Οκλαχόμα του 1928 για να μας διηγηθεί μία εκ πρώτης όψεως απλή ιστορία, μέσω μιας γραφής λιτής και απέριττης, αποφεύγοντας συναισθηματικές υπερβολές. Η ιστορία βέβαια μόνο απλή δεν είναι καθώς παρακολουθούμε τις προσπάθειες μιας νεαρής γυναίκας με καταγωγή από την φυλή των Τσερόκι για να καταφέρει ότι καλύτερο στη ζωή της σε ένα περιβάλλον που κυριαρχείται από τον αγώνα για την επιβίωση σε σκληρές συνθήκες και μαστίζεται από τη βία, από αυτό όμως η συγγραφέας δεν προσπαθεί σε καμία περίπτωση να βγάλει την εύκολη συγκίνηση που πιθανότατα θα έκα��ε πιο προσβάσιμο το δημιούργημα της στο ευρύ κοινό. Αυτό φυσικά δεν σημαίνει ότι το βιβλίο κυριαρχείται από κάποιου είδους ψυχρότητα, το αντίθετο θα έλεγα, έχει το συναισθηματικό πλούτο που χρειάζεται και παρουσιάζει της δυσκολίες της ζωής της ηρωίδας χωρίς καμία τάση ωραιοποίησης τόσο των καταστάσεων όσο και της ίδιας, απλά όλα αυτά τα κάνει ήσυχα κι απλά.
Με λίγα λόγια αν σας αρέσουν τα απλά πράγματα τότε υπάρχει πιθανότητα κάτι να βρείτε σε αυτό εδώ το βιβλίο, για τους υπόλοιπους δεν παίρνω όρκο. Εγώ πάντως μπόρεσα να το εκτιμήσω αρκετά και μπορώ να πω ότι η ανάγνωση του ήταν μία ενδιαφέρουσα εμπειρία.
Η συγγραφέας μας μεταφέρει στην Οκλαχόμα του 1928 για να μας διηγηθεί μία εκ πρώτης όψεως απλή ιστορία, μέσω μιας γραφής λιτής και απέριττης, αποφεύγοντας συναισθηματικές υπερβολές. Η ιστορία βέβαια μόνο απλή δεν είναι καθώς παρακολουθούμε τις προσπάθειες μιας νεαρής γυναίκας με καταγωγή από την φυλή των Τσερόκι για να καταφέρει ότι καλύτερο στη ζωή της σε ένα περιβάλλον που κυριαρχείται από τον αγώνα για την επιβίωση σε σκληρές συνθήκες και μαστίζεται από τη βία, από αυτό όμως η συγγραφέας δεν προσπαθεί σε καμία περίπτωση να βγάλει την εύκολη συγκίνηση που πιθανότατα θα έκα��ε πιο προσβάσιμο το δημιούργημα της στο ευρύ κοινό. Αυτό φυσικά δεν σημαίνει ότι το βιβλίο κυριαρχείται από κάποιου είδους ψυχρότητα, το αντίθετο θα έλεγα, έχει το συναισθηματικό πλούτο που χρειάζεται και παρουσιάζει της δυσκολίες της ζωής της ηρωίδας χωρίς καμία τάση ωραιοποίησης τόσο των καταστάσεων όσο και της ίδιας, απλά όλα αυτά τα κάνει ήσυχα κι απλά.
Με λίγα λόγια αν σας αρέσουν τα απλά πράγματα τότε υπάρχει πιθανότητα κάτι να βρείτε σε αυτό εδώ το βιβλίο, για τους υπόλοιπους δεν παίρνω όρκο. Εγώ πάντως μπόρεσα να το εκτιμήσω αρκετά και μπορώ να πω ότι η ανάγνωση του ήταν μία ενδιαφέρουσα εμπειρία.
November 14, 2025
I just did not enjoy this book. I know this author was trying to express how bad conditions were for native people in this time period but at times the situation was just hard to read. Maud's life was not an easy one and I feel like it was just one bad thing after another. I was honestly a little taken aback my how Maud was portrayed and some of her actions because I really wonder if any woman has really felt quite like that in that situation. It made Maud come off in a very certain way especially in this time period. I also hated the ending.
September 22, 2021
If I want to read about AmerIndians and problems on reservations, I'll read Louise Erdrich or Tommy Orange, because this book by Margaret Verble did not ever grab me. It sets up a premise that could potentially have talked about the appropriation of Crow land in Oklahoma, and then squanders it on our protagonist who is both an agent, taking her sexuality into her own hands, and a loner who tends to sacrifice her dreams for folks who do not deserve her affection. It is a confusing tale that loses itself in the middle of the narrative and just is not all that well-written - particularly for a Pulitzer Runnerup (2016). I did not feel the writing was all that good and felt that she overused the image of roiling rattlesnakes and cottonmouths as a threat, but breaks the Chekovian principle of using her loaded gun during the story.
Maybe you'll have a better impression, but I never grew to like the protagonist. And, also, I felt it weird that she names the love interest in her brain based on an association, and, as if just by chance, that becomes his name in the story. That did not sit right with me either.
Maybe you'll have a better impression, but I never grew to like the protagonist. And, also, I felt it weird that she names the love interest in her brain based on an association, and, as if just by chance, that becomes his name in the story. That did not sit right with me either.
August 9, 2015
I'm conflicted about this novel. I wanted to like it. A lot. The writing is lovely and lyrical, the sense of place is reminiscent of novels like The Yearling, Their Eyes Were Watching God, even A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Stories of community and struggle and family.
Verble's debut novel brings to life the hardscrabble Cherokee and Seminole communities of Oklahoma in the 1920s. Maud Nail is part of that community, living on the government allotment given to her family by the US government, a valuable commodity for people who've had everything taken away from them.
When a handsome peddler with a wagon full of goods comes down Maud's section line she's immediately attracted to him. Booker represents all she desires--learning, city life, an existence with indoor plumbing and modern temptations like bobbed hair and short dresses. Most importantly, he has books, and it's her love of reading that brings the spark between them to life.
As I said, I wanted to love it more than I did. Maud's love of books and desire to better herself resonated with me. The descriptions of life in her community were spot-on. But at the end of the novel I was dissatisfied with Maud's inability to seize control of her own destiny. The action at the end seemed rushed and even somewhat incoherent. She gave up something that could have made her future secure for a future that seems tenuous at best. I simply could not be satisfied with what came across as a weak action from a character who up until that point had been strong and durable.
However, I enjoyed Ms. Verble's writing immensely, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future. Maud's Line is a promising debut novel.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Verble's debut novel brings to life the hardscrabble Cherokee and Seminole communities of Oklahoma in the 1920s. Maud Nail is part of that community, living on the government allotment given to her family by the US government, a valuable commodity for people who've had everything taken away from them.
When a handsome peddler with a wagon full of goods comes down Maud's section line she's immediately attracted to him. Booker represents all she desires--learning, city life, an existence with indoor plumbing and modern temptations like bobbed hair and short dresses. Most importantly, he has books, and it's her love of reading that brings the spark between them to life.
As I said, I wanted to love it more than I did. Maud's love of books and desire to better herself resonated with me. The descriptions of life in her community were spot-on. But at the end of the novel I was dissatisfied with Maud's inability to seize control of her own destiny. The action at the end seemed rushed and even somewhat incoherent. She gave up something that could have made her future secure for a future that seems tenuous at best. I simply could not be satisfied with what came across as a weak action from a character who up until that point had been strong and durable.
However, I enjoyed Ms. Verble's writing immensely, and I look forward to seeing more from her in the future. Maud's Line is a promising debut novel.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
September 6, 2025
What an epic, beautifully written read. This is heading into my Top Ten.
June 29, 2015
I'm sorry. But I must be true to my feelings when rating this one. A debut using very elementary writing. Short and basic sentences that grew to an irritating distraction. I had hoped for a better reading experience.
July 6, 2016
An almost-successful bit of Pulitzer bait -- a folksy but gritty portrait of an American ethnic subculture, in this case Native Americans in Oklahoma in the late 1920's. What lifts "Maud's Line" above middlebrow multi-cultural exoticism, though, is the eponymous heroine, who manages to be innocent but not naive, strong but not stalwart, dissatisfied but not restless. The depiction of poor Okie communities also defied my expectations, since there's less of a dichotomy than a continuum between white and Indian. The language can downshift from deceptively simple to distractingly simple at times (when someone knocks a pan off a table, the reader can assume it will hit the floor), but for the most part, "Maud's Line" is pretty impressive.
December 25, 2016
Disappointed. It was an easy read but made no emotional sense to me. I had very little interest in any of the characters.
April 12, 2017
Haunting story about Maude Nail, a young woman of only eighteen years living on allotment land the government gave to the Cherokees in Oklahoma. Maude's upbringing on her family's farm is full of relentless tragedy which begins to take its toll as this story unfolds.
Maude is fully aware that people live very different lives in the cities where the luxuries of electricity and indoor plumbing are taken for granted; luxuries that she knows she may never have unless she takes control of her own destiny. When an unexpected stranger arrives, someone who may provide Maude with a way out, she must decide how far she is willing to go to claim a different life.
As Maude's chance to escape hardship seems to slip away, she begins to live recklessly and she becomes governed by bitterness. Frequently tragic, raw, and at times shocking, Ms. Verble guides Maude through the difficult process of walking the line that divides the familiar from her dreams. Will Maude cross the line too many times and lose her chance to improve her lot in life??
I really struggled with the overly graphic sex scenes in the second half of the narrative, they weren't sexy or seductive at all. But maybe Ms. Verble's intent was to show me the depth of Maude's despair through her squalid lovemaking. I just would have preferred hearing Maude's inner thoughts and I knocked off a star for that.
Overall, I'd have to say this is an unforgettable novel about a young woman who is hurried along toward her destiny by a chain of tragic events.
Maude is fully aware that people live very different lives in the cities where the luxuries of electricity and indoor plumbing are taken for granted; luxuries that she knows she may never have unless she takes control of her own destiny. When an unexpected stranger arrives, someone who may provide Maude with a way out, she must decide how far she is willing to go to claim a different life.
As Maude's chance to escape hardship seems to slip away, she begins to live recklessly and she becomes governed by bitterness. Frequently tragic, raw, and at times shocking, Ms. Verble guides Maude through the difficult process of walking the line that divides the familiar from her dreams. Will Maude cross the line too many times and lose her chance to improve her lot in life??
I really struggled with the overly graphic sex scenes in the second half of the narrative, they weren't sexy or seductive at all. But maybe Ms. Verble's intent was to show me the depth of Maude's despair through her squalid lovemaking. I just would have preferred hearing Maude's inner thoughts and I knocked off a star for that.
Overall, I'd have to say this is an unforgettable novel about a young woman who is hurried along toward her destiny by a chain of tragic events.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2016
It is 1928. Eighteen-year-old Maud Nail lives in Oklahoma with her extended family on land given to the Cherokees after the Trail of Tears. It is a hard life, with frequent violence and tragedy, but Maud has hopes and dreams for a better one. All the characters in this absorbing novel are very interesting but you will not forget Maud. I didn't always approve of her but she was just doing her best. I'll be watching for more books by Margaret Verble.
March 24, 2017
2.5 stars
I found this book curiously flat. Maud was certainly an interesting character, and the book realistically portrayed her drab, hardscrabble life. But the writing style and the characters felt under-developed. I couldn't help but compare this to Lonesome Dove and True Grit, and sadly, it is not in their league.
I found this book curiously flat. Maud was certainly an interesting character, and the book realistically portrayed her drab, hardscrabble life. But the writing style and the characters felt under-developed. I couldn't help but compare this to Lonesome Dove and True Grit, and sadly, it is not in their league.
July 15, 2016
I grew up in Oklahoma around the time period of this book and although my life was nothing like Maud's, she reminds me of people I knew and went to school with. The story was well told and left room for hope for a better future for Maude.
July 12, 2015
2.5 review to come
did-not-finish
January 21, 2020I was intrigued at the beginning and felt drawn to the main character, a young Cherokee woman in 1928 Oklahoma. But I couldn’t hack the way that various ominously dramatic incidents barely registered for her or any of the other faintly drawn characters. Mutilated animals, arson, a beloved brother suffering violent delusions, you name it: nothing fazed anybody, everybody just carried right on, adorably falling in love, reading impressive literary novels, drinking too much. It got pukeworthily inane by page 82, and that’s where I stopped.
August 10, 2016
I rarely give Five-Stars to books. I want to save them in order to indicate books that STAND OUT. This one qualifies!
From the opening words of this novel, I had the inkling that this was to be a book of unusual quality. The cadence, tone, pacing, characters all created a picture of life on a Native American farming allotment in Oklahoma of such vibrence and precision that it was almost a physical experience. This book is beautiful in the way a thunderstorm holds beauty in its fierceness or in the way a heavy rain can transform a newly-tilled field into an art work of erosion – amazing to behold, difficult to witness. It is the kind of book that will make the next book read to be dull and colorless, regardless of how good that book may be.
Maud Nail, direct descendent of those who walked The Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma, lives with her brother, Lovely, and her father, Mustard (so named because of his temper) on her deceased mother’s allotment. Her extended family live on the surrounding land – all making a living out of the dusty, rich soil given to them in exchange for homes taken from them. Her steady, routine life is forever changed when someone takes an axe to one of the family’s cows. That act of senseless violence sets off a chain of events so dynamic in their impact that Maud is left feeling like an unwelcomed stranger on her own land. Those feelings of detachment are only intensified when a handsome peddler (Booker) drives up with his wagon-full of wares covered in striking blue canvas.
Maud loves her farm and her family. She attends to her daily chores without delay or rancor, helps with the farming that will bring what little cash can be had in that part of the world and visits her relatives when time and work allow for such enjoyments. The death of Betty (the cow) is a point of focus of just how small her life really is.
The response to this attack on the family and its’ livelihood is expectedly harsh and coincides with the feelings of love she is beginning to have for one outside of her clan. Both occasions are moments of change for Maud. Protecting her family, she knows, requires sacrifice unasked for but nonetheless expected. The growing love she has for Booker awakens her to the demands such feelings make – honesty, transparency, trust of one not blood-kin. In response to each of these moments, Maud takes action; she makes one situation far worse for those she hoped to protect, she acts in the other in a manner that is new for her but one that will lead her further from the certainty she once held in ease.
The reader is follows Maud as she goes about living her life in a time of change for her. The riches Oklahoma is experiencing has a feeling of permanence – the oilfields are making everyone connected with them wealthy, farmers are having bumper crops of corn and wheat with a ready market, the Creek and Cherokee nations, exiled to a foreign land, are accomplishing to live on their own. The love Maud learned in her home and within her community is expanding in ways that are new but seem natural and she learns that it is very good. She is wanted by two desirable men who are near opposites, one offers the “future,” the other offers the stability of what she already knows. Maud is the representation of the Nation during that age. Hopeful for more, holding to the past.
This is a novel written for adults. There is graphic violence and explicit sexual moments that are intentionally shocking as the author used those instances to magnify the conflict within Maud as she “walked her line.” The “Line” is used with multiple meanings: the line between her allotments and those of her neighbors, the line between staying and leaving, the line of definition of who she is apart from others expectations of her and finally the line from which, once crossed, there can be no return. As the book closes Maud ponders, “1927 and 1928 had been terrible years. She felt that no matter what happened, 1929 would be a better one.” (p.282) The last we see of Maud is her crossing into that hopeful year.
From the opening words of this novel, I had the inkling that this was to be a book of unusual quality. The cadence, tone, pacing, characters all created a picture of life on a Native American farming allotment in Oklahoma of such vibrence and precision that it was almost a physical experience. This book is beautiful in the way a thunderstorm holds beauty in its fierceness or in the way a heavy rain can transform a newly-tilled field into an art work of erosion – amazing to behold, difficult to witness. It is the kind of book that will make the next book read to be dull and colorless, regardless of how good that book may be.
Maud Nail, direct descendent of those who walked The Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma, lives with her brother, Lovely, and her father, Mustard (so named because of his temper) on her deceased mother’s allotment. Her extended family live on the surrounding land – all making a living out of the dusty, rich soil given to them in exchange for homes taken from them. Her steady, routine life is forever changed when someone takes an axe to one of the family’s cows. That act of senseless violence sets off a chain of events so dynamic in their impact that Maud is left feeling like an unwelcomed stranger on her own land. Those feelings of detachment are only intensified when a handsome peddler (Booker) drives up with his wagon-full of wares covered in striking blue canvas.
Maud loves her farm and her family. She attends to her daily chores without delay or rancor, helps with the farming that will bring what little cash can be had in that part of the world and visits her relatives when time and work allow for such enjoyments. The death of Betty (the cow) is a point of focus of just how small her life really is.
The response to this attack on the family and its’ livelihood is expectedly harsh and coincides with the feelings of love she is beginning to have for one outside of her clan. Both occasions are moments of change for Maud. Protecting her family, she knows, requires sacrifice unasked for but nonetheless expected. The growing love she has for Booker awakens her to the demands such feelings make – honesty, transparency, trust of one not blood-kin. In response to each of these moments, Maud takes action; she makes one situation far worse for those she hoped to protect, she acts in the other in a manner that is new for her but one that will lead her further from the certainty she once held in ease.
The reader is follows Maud as she goes about living her life in a time of change for her. The riches Oklahoma is experiencing has a feeling of permanence – the oilfields are making everyone connected with them wealthy, farmers are having bumper crops of corn and wheat with a ready market, the Creek and Cherokee nations, exiled to a foreign land, are accomplishing to live on their own. The love Maud learned in her home and within her community is expanding in ways that are new but seem natural and she learns that it is very good. She is wanted by two desirable men who are near opposites, one offers the “future,” the other offers the stability of what she already knows. Maud is the representation of the Nation during that age. Hopeful for more, holding to the past.
This is a novel written for adults. There is graphic violence and explicit sexual moments that are intentionally shocking as the author used those instances to magnify the conflict within Maud as she “walked her line.” The “Line” is used with multiple meanings: the line between her allotments and those of her neighbors, the line between staying and leaving, the line of definition of who she is apart from others expectations of her and finally the line from which, once crossed, there can be no return. As the book closes Maud ponders, “1927 and 1928 had been terrible years. She felt that no matter what happened, 1929 would be a better one.” (p.282) The last we see of Maud is her crossing into that hopeful year.
January 8, 2016
From my Whistling Shade review:
The cover photo for Margaret Verble’s debut novel—a young woman standing alone, running a hand through her tangled hair—perfectly captures the poise of her heroine, Maud. It’s 1928, long after the Trail of Tears forced Maud’s Cherokee ancestors from their ancestral lands in the southeast to the “Indian Territory.” Now it’s the state of Oklahoma, and she lives with her ornery father Mustard and her sensitive brother Lovely, farming a small allotment. Plumbing and electricity have not made it to their river bottom country yet, but there is a well for water, chickens for eggs, a porch to idle on, and Maud’s extended family living at farmsteads nearby. Mostly though, Maud dreams of moving to a town and living the life she’s read about in The Great Gatsby and other novels she borrows from her neighbor, Mr. Singer. In other words, Maud is much like any other country girl in early 20th century America:
She liked books, learning, and clean things. She liked folks being nice to one another. But most of all, she wanted to live in a place where people died of natural causes when they were old and were dressed up in suits and laid down in wooden boxes.
There’s a lot to hold Maud back, though—including a feud her father has with their nasty neighbors, the Mount brothers, and the habit her menfolk have of wandering off and disappearing for days. Booker, a white itinerant peddler, offers her the possibility of escape, bright as the blue tarp he uses to cover his wagon; Billy Walkingstick, an Indian boy her age, is another suitor. And oil booms and the Roaring Twenties promise a different life. But walking her section line alone, carrying a stick to ward off the Cottonmouths, the sheer emptiness of the countryside seems to overwhelm Maud.
Maud’s Line is not a tightly constructed novel—its pacing is natural and unlabored. Maud gets up, feeds the chickens, gets water from the well, makes biscuits, checks to see if Lovely is in the field and if her father has returned from his latest drinking bout or tramp around the country. She lays down on her bed and looks at a crack in the ceiling and waits. Maud waits a lot... Which is not to say Verble’s novel is tedious. Far from it—the slow, atmospheric rhythm of the story, its unexpected entrances and departures, lead the reader into the quieter waters of an earlier time. Unlike most historical fiction, famous events and personages are not paraded before us. This isn’t the story of Thomas Cromwell or the Buffalo Soldiers; beyond books by Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis and the speculation that her father may have joined Pretty Boy Floyd, very little of the outside world reaches Maud’s little backwater. Instead Verble tells us the story of ... what exactly? That’s what keeps you guessing. A tale of murder on one page, a turgid romance on another, Maud’s Line detours around all genre formulas—even the well-known trope of the “literary novel.”
Lovely was still on the porch when he said, “We’ve got a problem in the kitchen.”
“What kind?”
“A dead dog.”
“In the kitchen?”
“On the table.”
“That’s just meanness,” Maud said.
And there is more than a little meanness to be found in Maud’s story. Like Wessex in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, the Oklahoma of Maud’s Line can be quaintly rustic, but the forlornness of the countryside also has darker undertones that surface in its characters. Verble's Maud, like Eustacia Vye, is a woman trapped—a flawed character, perhaps, but one of deep feeling.
The cover photo for Margaret Verble’s debut novel—a young woman standing alone, running a hand through her tangled hair—perfectly captures the poise of her heroine, Maud. It’s 1928, long after the Trail of Tears forced Maud’s Cherokee ancestors from their ancestral lands in the southeast to the “Indian Territory.” Now it’s the state of Oklahoma, and she lives with her ornery father Mustard and her sensitive brother Lovely, farming a small allotment. Plumbing and electricity have not made it to their river bottom country yet, but there is a well for water, chickens for eggs, a porch to idle on, and Maud’s extended family living at farmsteads nearby. Mostly though, Maud dreams of moving to a town and living the life she’s read about in The Great Gatsby and other novels she borrows from her neighbor, Mr. Singer. In other words, Maud is much like any other country girl in early 20th century America:
She liked books, learning, and clean things. She liked folks being nice to one another. But most of all, she wanted to live in a place where people died of natural causes when they were old and were dressed up in suits and laid down in wooden boxes.
There’s a lot to hold Maud back, though—including a feud her father has with their nasty neighbors, the Mount brothers, and the habit her menfolk have of wandering off and disappearing for days. Booker, a white itinerant peddler, offers her the possibility of escape, bright as the blue tarp he uses to cover his wagon; Billy Walkingstick, an Indian boy her age, is another suitor. And oil booms and the Roaring Twenties promise a different life. But walking her section line alone, carrying a stick to ward off the Cottonmouths, the sheer emptiness of the countryside seems to overwhelm Maud.
Maud’s Line is not a tightly constructed novel—its pacing is natural and unlabored. Maud gets up, feeds the chickens, gets water from the well, makes biscuits, checks to see if Lovely is in the field and if her father has returned from his latest drinking bout or tramp around the country. She lays down on her bed and looks at a crack in the ceiling and waits. Maud waits a lot... Which is not to say Verble’s novel is tedious. Far from it—the slow, atmospheric rhythm of the story, its unexpected entrances and departures, lead the reader into the quieter waters of an earlier time. Unlike most historical fiction, famous events and personages are not paraded before us. This isn’t the story of Thomas Cromwell or the Buffalo Soldiers; beyond books by Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis and the speculation that her father may have joined Pretty Boy Floyd, very little of the outside world reaches Maud’s little backwater. Instead Verble tells us the story of ... what exactly? That’s what keeps you guessing. A tale of murder on one page, a turgid romance on another, Maud’s Line detours around all genre formulas—even the well-known trope of the “literary novel.”
Lovely was still on the porch when he said, “We’ve got a problem in the kitchen.”
“What kind?”
“A dead dog.”
“In the kitchen?”
“On the table.”
“That’s just meanness,” Maud said.
And there is more than a little meanness to be found in Maud’s story. Like Wessex in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, the Oklahoma of Maud’s Line can be quaintly rustic, but the forlornness of the countryside also has darker undertones that surface in its characters. Verble's Maud, like Eustacia Vye, is a woman trapped—a flawed character, perhaps, but one of deep feeling.
August 8, 2015
I was contacted by the publisher and offered a copy of this book for review. My opinions are my own and haven't been influenced in anyway by them
Thoughts: This is the debut novel of author Margaret Verble where she tells the story of Maud, an 18 year old Cherokee woman in the 1920s. Because Verble is part of the Cherokee nation herself I was excited to read this and hopefully gain a bit more perspective on this community. While it was a nice read I ended up with a feeling that I didn't learn much from it, which is the main reason why I'm only giving it 2/5.
Maud is indeed a very strong character, just as it is presented in the blurbs. She has to deal with the "regular" hardships of being a woman in the 1920s, dealing with his alcoholic and hot tempered father and at the same time with a brother that might be "too sensitive" for the time.
Through that, and being of marrying age, she falls in and out of love.
There were a few glimpses of politics in the book, some brushes as to what the community was like, education (schooling) and structure wise but it wasn't very developed. The same was the case for Maud's love story. There was a bit of romance thrown into the mix, but, and I believe this is the case for several first authors, trying to put too many things in one single book, leaves most of this things undeveloped.
Verble does have a nice style of writing and, at least for me, it was a fast, enticing read. All characters were flawed and probably the thing I liked the most was the fact that Maud is very open about what she feels and wants sexually and in life in general. It's always nice to see a character speak their mind.
Thoughts: This is the debut novel of author Margaret Verble where she tells the story of Maud, an 18 year old Cherokee woman in the 1920s. Because Verble is part of the Cherokee nation herself I was excited to read this and hopefully gain a bit more perspective on this community. While it was a nice read I ended up with a feeling that I didn't learn much from it, which is the main reason why I'm only giving it 2/5.
Maud is indeed a very strong character, just as it is presented in the blurbs. She has to deal with the "regular" hardships of being a woman in the 1920s, dealing with his alcoholic and hot tempered father and at the same time with a brother that might be "too sensitive" for the time.
Through that, and being of marrying age, she falls in and out of love.
There were a few glimpses of politics in the book, some brushes as to what the community was like, education (schooling) and structure wise but it wasn't very developed. The same was the case for Maud's love story. There was a bit of romance thrown into the mix, but, and I believe this is the case for several first authors, trying to put too many things in one single book, leaves most of this things undeveloped.
Verble does have a nice style of writing and, at least for me, it was a fast, enticing read. All characters were flawed and probably the thing I liked the most was the fact that Maud is very open about what she feels and wants sexually and in life in general. It's always nice to see a character speak their mind.
September 19, 2016
This book was written by a relative of my husband's family. His family is from the Fort Gibson area of Oklahoma where this book was set. So, I was excited to read this book!
Though I really enjoyed the story, I would consider this an "R rated" book. There is quite a bit of sex in this book and it is somewhat detailed. I wish the story would have been told in more of a "PG" version! But, as a historical book of fiction, I really enjoyed learning more about Oklahoma and the native Americans of that area and time.
Though I really enjoyed the story, I would consider this an "R rated" book. There is quite a bit of sex in this book and it is somewhat detailed. I wish the story would have been told in more of a "PG" version! But, as a historical book of fiction, I really enjoyed learning more about Oklahoma and the native Americans of that area and time.
July 24, 2020
This book is the perfect example of *show don't tell*. Verble shows us the minutiae of Maud's life through every day events as well as life changing events and, therefore, shows us the development of Maud life, her heartbreak over the deaths of loved ones, her love for others, her fear of what her life is becoming. It's a beautiful story.
( Note: I read Cherokee America before this book and, though it was written after this, it chronicles some of the history of Maud's family.)
( Note: I read Cherokee America before this book and, though it was written after this, it chronicles some of the history of Maud's family.)
November 22, 2023
Perfect for a mid-summer read. . . Maud has wants, has obligations, has responsibilities, has dreams, has history and all pin her in her place. Mostly Cherokee, but all woman, fierce and determined to find her way in this world.
This author is one of my favorites, and Maud became a person in my head. . .she pops up every so often, usually when I need courage or a little more backbone than I'm finding back there.
4 feathered stars for Maud.
This author is one of my favorites, and Maud became a person in my head. . .she pops up every so often, usually when I need courage or a little more backbone than I'm finding back there.
4 feathered stars for Maud.
May 14, 2017
What kind of ending is that
I sure didn't like the ending. Also the graphic detail of the sexual encounters could have been left out. I don't understand the need for that kind of detail.
I sure didn't like the ending. Also the graphic detail of the sexual encounters could have been left out. I don't understand the need for that kind of detail.
March 8, 2017
A good story - not sure I agree with "Pulitzer finalist".
January 6, 2018
Disapppointingg
From the opening chapter this book promised to be one about a woman who wanted more. Too much time was spent in the confinement of her life for me
From the opening chapter this book promised to be one about a woman who wanted more. Too much time was spent in the confinement of her life for me
July 13, 2018
Interesting book but I am not seeing a Pulitzer Prize nomination for it. The relationships are complex and interesting but ultimately, like most Native American stories, it’s quite depressing.
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