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Thorns of the Mesquite
Dona Rose Willis’s life on a vast West Texas ranch in 1938 is shaped by hard work, a starkly beautiful landscape, and a loveless marriage. Everything shifts when her orphaned niece, Annalou, arrives, and Samuel Washington, a Black man, seeks refuge from a lynch mob, thrusting Dona into a dangerous fight against brutal prejudices.
A powerful and timely tale of historic fiction, Thorns of the Mesquite paints a stirring portrait of a woman’s awakening — of love and the resilient spirit demanded to fight for what’s right against staggering odds.
A powerful and timely tale of historic fiction, Thorns of the Mesquite paints a stirring portrait of a woman’s awakening — of love and the resilient spirit demanded to fight for what’s right against staggering odds.
332 pages, Paperback
Published March 10, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 24, 2026
Thorns of the Mesquite, by Patricia Lee Lewis, is the story of Dona Willis, a tough and tender west Texas ranch woman. “Doney” is a champion barrel racer, has a dead aim with a gun, can make a quick batch of buttery biscuits, and take on a whole town of white men who get up in a madness when Samuel Washington, a Black man, is found learning how to read in the kitchen of the white wife of the local preacher of the Southern Presbyterian church.
Lewis, a writer and poet (High Lonesome, A Kind of Yellow) has a storyteller's eye for place and an ear for language. Thorns is beautifully told with both frankness and grace. Her lyrical images are a gift from a master. And, her lens is large - prejudice, hypocrisy, murder, and domestic abuse. In this timely novel of Texas almost one-hundred years ago, like Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird, Lewis reminds us not to look away, to stand firm and refuse to be reduced.
I'm gifting this stellar first novel and irreducible Doney to family and friends. All profits go to local domestic abuse and civil rights groups.
Lewis, a writer and poet (High Lonesome, A Kind of Yellow) has a storyteller's eye for place and an ear for language. Thorns is beautifully told with both frankness and grace. Her lyrical images are a gift from a master. And, her lens is large - prejudice, hypocrisy, murder, and domestic abuse. In this timely novel of Texas almost one-hundred years ago, like Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird, Lewis reminds us not to look away, to stand firm and refuse to be reduced.
I'm gifting this stellar first novel and irreducible Doney to family and friends. All profits go to local domestic abuse and civil rights groups.
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January 11, 2026An Engaging and Deeply Stirring Read!
What a mesmerizing work of historical fiction this is! Patricia Lee Lewis transported me to a world I’d never encountered: West Texas in 1938. Her vivid depictions of ranch life, the region’s distinctive nature, and the era’s racial tensions provide a rich backdrop for the unforgettable protagonist Dona Rose Willis, who risks her own safety to protect a Black man, Samuel Washington, targeted by a lynch mob.
A less skillful writer might have depicted the heroine as a saint and the powerful men of the Ku Klux Klan as simple villains, but Lewis creates multidimensional characters whose inner struggles feel authentic and deeply human. The result is a powerful novel bound to stay with you long after the final page.
What a mesmerizing work of historical fiction this is! Patricia Lee Lewis transported me to a world I’d never encountered: West Texas in 1938. Her vivid depictions of ranch life, the region’s distinctive nature, and the era’s racial tensions provide a rich backdrop for the unforgettable protagonist Dona Rose Willis, who risks her own safety to protect a Black man, Samuel Washington, targeted by a lynch mob.
A less skillful writer might have depicted the heroine as a saint and the powerful men of the Ku Klux Klan as simple villains, but Lewis creates multidimensional characters whose inner struggles feel authentic and deeply human. The result is a powerful novel bound to stay with you long after the final page.
January 20, 2026
West Texas, the setting for "Thorns of the Mesquite" is a character unto itself. Although I have never lived on a ranch in West Texas, Patricia Lee Lewis's vivid descriptions made me feel as if I had. The vegetation, light, sky, creatures...and the biscuits! All of the human characters also come alive on the page, especially the women. And their fight continues!
January 14, 2026
Even though I had no previous knowledge of the subject matter in Patricia Lee Lewis’s book, Thorns of the Mesquite, I immediately became immersed in the story. Ms. Lewis is a master of description and sequence. We, the readers, soon come to feel and know what it was like growing up and living in West Texas in 1938.
The story is compelling in many ways. Even simple daily chores have tremendous impact on the story. The author’s descriptions are so real and immediate that they transport the reader to the very place, situations, and feelings being narrated. Things like a dove twisting a twig from a willow, or verbal expressions that place us right in the middle of a conversation enable us to feel, see, and sometimes even taste, life on a Texas ranch, as though we ourselves were living it.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Thorns of the Mesquite is the courage, determination, and humanity of the lead character, Dona, and what she is willing to put on the line to fight for what is right, even in the masculine-dominated culture of those times. Without forsaking the feminine qualities that has her taking care of her niece who has lost her parents, and come to live on the ranch, or her empathy for a black man targeted by the Klu Klux Klan that is trying to lynch him based on the color of his skin, Dona changes hearts and minds of members of her family, and the townspeople living in proximity to her ranch. This novel is a testament to what is possible when a resilient woman fights for the rights of all women, especially victims of domestic violence, and the civil rights of all people.
The story is compelling in many ways. Even simple daily chores have tremendous impact on the story. The author’s descriptions are so real and immediate that they transport the reader to the very place, situations, and feelings being narrated. Things like a dove twisting a twig from a willow, or verbal expressions that place us right in the middle of a conversation enable us to feel, see, and sometimes even taste, life on a Texas ranch, as though we ourselves were living it.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Thorns of the Mesquite is the courage, determination, and humanity of the lead character, Dona, and what she is willing to put on the line to fight for what is right, even in the masculine-dominated culture of those times. Without forsaking the feminine qualities that has her taking care of her niece who has lost her parents, and come to live on the ranch, or her empathy for a black man targeted by the Klu Klux Klan that is trying to lynch him based on the color of his skin, Dona changes hearts and minds of members of her family, and the townspeople living in proximity to her ranch. This novel is a testament to what is possible when a resilient woman fights for the rights of all women, especially victims of domestic violence, and the civil rights of all people.
April 13, 2026
The struggle for justice through love and forgiveness in a harsh land
Thorns of the Mesquite by Patricia Lee Lewis is a novel that paints the world of West Texas in the 1930s vividly using sights, smells, and sounds as well as through a complex web of characters. Using a large and diverse cast, Lewis lays out for the reader the issues of gender and race that rocked the twentieth century (and continue today). This might sound like a grand, ambitious undertaking—which it is—but Lewis pulls it off.
The book revolves around Dona, a ranch woman in her late 30s. The book opens slowly, showing the reader how Dona is tied to the land, a West Texas ranch she inherited from her father and now runs with her husband. When a Black man in the community is nearly lynched by the KKK, Dona takes action to defend him. Her actions cascade into a war that threatens to rip apart her family and the community.
This is a book about subjugation of the weak by the powerful, through physical and emotional violence, and about how the stories told by those in power (elected officials, heads of household, religious authority) are used to control women and non-white people. Dona uses the quiet power of listening to another person’s private pain and forgiveness as an act of healing to expose lies and secrets. In doing so, she puts her life and the lives of her family in danger.
It is easy to paint racists in black and white, but Lee builds complexity into all her characters, even those who carry out despicable acts. In particular, she shows how these characters are crippled by the cruelties that they visit on other people, which is an aspect of oppression that is often overlooked in literature. In the end, Dona succeeds not merely by fighting back but by understanding her enemies and building bridges based on shared experience.
This is Lee’s first novel, but she has published poetry for many decades. Her descriptions often soar off the page as in the following, written near the end of the book as Dona tries to make sense of a heartbreaking loss: “It was the hour when coyotes sniffed the river, hoping the catfish would whisper through their whiskers the secret to breathing underwater.” And there is much delicious food, including biscuits and peach preserves, which made me salivate. But she does more than write beautiful descriptions. Lee’s ability to write action scenes makes the book a page-turner; the book is not for the squeamish as the author does not shy from writing about violence in detail. However, forgiveness is meaningful only when there is something significant to forgive.
It’s not easy to find resolution for the conflicts and moral issues raised with in the book. I was not entirely convinced by the reversals of some of the characters at the end of the book. Nevertheless, the book does not try to wrap up everything too neatly, acknowledging in the end that the struggle for equality and justice will continue.
Thorns of the Mesquite by Patricia Lee Lewis is a novel that paints the world of West Texas in the 1930s vividly using sights, smells, and sounds as well as through a complex web of characters. Using a large and diverse cast, Lewis lays out for the reader the issues of gender and race that rocked the twentieth century (and continue today). This might sound like a grand, ambitious undertaking—which it is—but Lewis pulls it off.
The book revolves around Dona, a ranch woman in her late 30s. The book opens slowly, showing the reader how Dona is tied to the land, a West Texas ranch she inherited from her father and now runs with her husband. When a Black man in the community is nearly lynched by the KKK, Dona takes action to defend him. Her actions cascade into a war that threatens to rip apart her family and the community.
This is a book about subjugation of the weak by the powerful, through physical and emotional violence, and about how the stories told by those in power (elected officials, heads of household, religious authority) are used to control women and non-white people. Dona uses the quiet power of listening to another person’s private pain and forgiveness as an act of healing to expose lies and secrets. In doing so, she puts her life and the lives of her family in danger.
It is easy to paint racists in black and white, but Lee builds complexity into all her characters, even those who carry out despicable acts. In particular, she shows how these characters are crippled by the cruelties that they visit on other people, which is an aspect of oppression that is often overlooked in literature. In the end, Dona succeeds not merely by fighting back but by understanding her enemies and building bridges based on shared experience.
This is Lee’s first novel, but she has published poetry for many decades. Her descriptions often soar off the page as in the following, written near the end of the book as Dona tries to make sense of a heartbreaking loss: “It was the hour when coyotes sniffed the river, hoping the catfish would whisper through their whiskers the secret to breathing underwater.” And there is much delicious food, including biscuits and peach preserves, which made me salivate. But she does more than write beautiful descriptions. Lee’s ability to write action scenes makes the book a page-turner; the book is not for the squeamish as the author does not shy from writing about violence in detail. However, forgiveness is meaningful only when there is something significant to forgive.
It’s not easy to find resolution for the conflicts and moral issues raised with in the book. I was not entirely convinced by the reversals of some of the characters at the end of the book. Nevertheless, the book does not try to wrap up everything too neatly, acknowledging in the end that the struggle for equality and justice will continue.
December 8, 2025
This novel has a lot of heart and a rich sense of place. Difficult emotional topics (racism, sexual assault, domestic violence) are held in a container of natural beauty and the coziness of home. One can tell that the author is a skilled poet because of the imagery and cadences of her sentences. The main character, Dona, is a courageous role model.
I did feel that some of the characters' words and attitudes were anachronistically modern. Would a rural woman in 1938 use the word "misogyny", for instance? While it's true that childhood abuse turns some people into bullies and bigots because they're pushing away their own vulnerability, I doubted whether a prominent white man would immediately give up his power and privilege in the Klan after one conversation about his trauma history.
I did feel that some of the characters' words and attitudes were anachronistically modern. Would a rural woman in 1938 use the word "misogyny", for instance? While it's true that childhood abuse turns some people into bullies and bigots because they're pushing away their own vulnerability, I doubted whether a prominent white man would immediately give up his power and privilege in the Klan after one conversation about his trauma history.
March 2, 2026
This is a beautifully written, heart-stopping page-turner, full of strong characters, plot turns, and challenging situations that involve characters mining both their hearts and minds to figure out what is the right thing to do. If I were going on a trip and could take just one book, this would be the one
I would grab!
I would grab!
March 3, 2026
This is my favorite kind of historical fiction, using the lens of looking back to better understand the present and the future. Lewis' book is rich with a celebration of place and unflinching in the depiction of what it meant to be a woman in 1938 West Texas ranch country. Dona and Annalou are resilient characters, and they have become my literary friends and heroines.
August 18, 2026
West Texas in 1938 is as rough as they come and one woman, Dona, is determined to chart a course that challenges the racist world around her. She faces challenges at every turn, but in the hands of author Patricia Lee Lewis, I buckled in for the entire ride and I'm glad that I did.
June 8, 2026
Encapsulates Texan womanhood beautifully, written like a poem, overall joy to read
January 25, 2026
Looking back at the other books I read last year, Thorns of the Mesquite by Patricia Lewis was the most impactful. The west Texas world created by Patricia reminded me of my grandparents, and its authenticity stirred early memories of their farm, farmhouse, lifestyle, and community in rural Oklahoma. The story came to life on the page.
The authentic descriptions in Patricia's book, including the landscape and the simple meals of biscuits, beans and cornbread, and fried chicken served on a farmhouse table covered by an oil cloth, deeply resonated with this reader.
The narrative's exploration of the social constraints imposed on women, people of color, the poor, and the poorly educated also rang true, as did the depictions of how those challenges were confronted and navigated in order to survive. These details connected personally with someone who graduated from high school near Dallas in the mid-sixties and has two great-grandfathers buried in Lubbock.
The authentic descriptions in Patricia's book, including the landscape and the simple meals of biscuits, beans and cornbread, and fried chicken served on a farmhouse table covered by an oil cloth, deeply resonated with this reader.
The narrative's exploration of the social constraints imposed on women, people of color, the poor, and the poorly educated also rang true, as did the depictions of how those challenges were confronted and navigated in order to survive. These details connected personally with someone who graduated from high school near Dallas in the mid-sixties and has two great-grandfathers buried in Lubbock.
March 5, 2026
I am an ex-Texan who finds that author Patricia Lee Lewis has the pitch-perfect voice of the people and places of West Texas in an earlier time. It felt like home in Spring with bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush in bloom and I know that stone cabin. Her tale of conflict, violence and the resilience of strong women like Dona Rose Willis is an inspiration - I’d like to put on my pointiest cowboy boots and kick her husband Roy into the next county. I highly recommend it!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews