Hardpan

by Marilyn Skinner Lanier

Set in Clark, Wyoming in the mid-1950s, Hardpan tells the story of a young ranch family caught in the vicissitudes of the changing American West after World War II. After returning from the war to manage the family ranch in eastern Oregon, Kurt Glover confronts familial challenges to his new role. His decision to relocate his family to a remote cattle ranch in Wyoming introduces risks to his young family that he never imagined.

It is a tale of external forces tearing at the ranching roots of a family, recounted from the points-of-view of the father, Kurt, and his older daughter, Linda. With the disintegration of the life they have known together, while Linda is thrust into the glamour world of televised wrestling, instant religion, and people desperate to reclaim a daughter they have lost through a tragic accident, her father is struggling to reestablish himself as the family breadwinner by taking on jobs in central California that are foreign to his upbringing.

"Marilyn Skinner Lanier's first novel "Hardpan" reveals her deep understanding of the vicissitudes of life in rural Wyoming for the Glover family in the 1950s as economic conditions, the weather, and human frailty lead them from one difficulty to the next. Her resilient and well-drawn characters, however, show what it takes to overcome the hardships they face and survive with strength and endurance. They are to be admired as is Lanier for so wisely probing the human heart and family devotion. Her writing is vivid, nuanced, and alive."
- Maxine Chernoff, Chair of the Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University. She is the author of 6 books of fiction and 14 books of poetry, winner of an NEA Fellowship and the PEN Translation Prize.

215 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

Reviews

[Shelley Blanton-Stroud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lanier’s Hard Pan is a gentle, generous book, looking at the serial losses, disappointments and mistakes experienced by familiar, farming a family that loves each other and does their best to take care of each other. It’s just that sometimes that is not enough. Several passages in this book were deeply moving, especially those about the vulnerability of children in poverty. I also am a real sucker for lots of info about how things get done—fences get mended, dinner gets made, walls get painted. But mostly, it is this writer’s love and respect for her characters that I will remember.

[Dorothy Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardpan is a moving family saga, rooted in the American experience, rich with details of the west during the 1950s. It portrays the complexities of family life during times of financial and emotional hardship with a loving, thoughtful eye without glossing over the hurt and disappointment of losing homes, land and being parted by time and distance. Rural landscapes are vividly portrayed and contrasted such that they become characters as well - Wyoming, California, Oregon. A wonderful read, particularly for those interested in the history of the western United States and the ranching tradition.

[Charles Markee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 1940-1950 generation was a slower time, a simpler time—a time when the country was recovering from WWII. Hardpan is an authentic portrayal of a family, like many families during this period, which made choices that worked against them. Yet this family’s determination and principles held them together in the face of daunting obstacles. This novel captures the culture of the time, the stoicism, the secrecy within the family unit, and the personal bonding in spite of the lack of communication, so typical of this period.

This is not a page-turner, but it is a good story, a story that draws you in so that you feel you know the Glover family intimately. It’s well written with a quiet tension that takes you along with them from Oregon to Wyoming and to California. It’s an epic tale that deserves to be read.