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Lonesome Land
Valeria had come to Montana to marry a cowboy named Manley, expecting a future full of companionship and bracing freedom, lodges with great fireplaces and bearskin rugs, manageable cattle and sleek horses, and dazzling sunrises. If Val had known what was really waiting for her, she simply wouldn’t have gotten off the train.
Oh, the country was impressive, but it could be cruel in winter and lonesome for a woman stuck on a ranch miles from the nearest neighbor. Val is cast into circumstances that test her temper, strength, and sanity. Married to an alcoholic, she is forced to revise her back-East notions about men and women, duty, and the West itself. She goes from romanticization to "blind unreasoning terror of the empty land" to decisive action.
Oh, the country was impressive, but it could be cruel in winter and lonesome for a woman stuck on a ranch miles from the nearest neighbor. Val is cast into circumstances that test her temper, strength, and sanity. Married to an alcoholic, she is forced to revise her back-East notions about men and women, duty, and the West itself. She goes from romanticization to "blind unreasoning terror of the empty land" to decisive action.
326 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1912
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About the author
B.M. Bower
566 books25 followersBertha Muzzy Sinclair or Sinclair-Cowan, née Muzzy, best known by her pseudonym B. M. Bower, was an American author who wrote novels, fictional short stories, and screenplays about the American Old West. Her works, featuring cowboys and cows of the Flying R Ranch in Montana, reflected "an interest in ranch life, the use of working cowboys as main characters (even in romantic plots), the occasional appearance of eastern types for the sake of contrast, a sense of western geography as simultaneously harsh and grand, and a good deal of factual attention to such matters as cattle branding and bronc busting.
Born Bertha Muzzy in Otter Tail County, MN and living her early years in Big Sandy, Montana, she was married three times: to Clayton Bower, in 1890; to Bertrand William Sinclair,(also a Western author) in 1912; and to Robert Elsworth Cowan, in 1921. Bower's 1912 novel Lonesome Land was praised in The Bookman magazine for its characterization. She wrote 57 Western novels, several of which were turned into films.
Born Bertha Muzzy in Otter Tail County, MN and living her early years in Big Sandy, Montana, she was married three times: to Clayton Bower, in 1890; to Bertrand William Sinclair,(also a Western author) in 1912; and to Robert Elsworth Cowan, in 1921. Bower's 1912 novel Lonesome Land was praised in The Bookman magazine for its characterization. She wrote 57 Western novels, several of which were turned into films.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 25, 2017
I am slowly working my way through the listings of B. M. Bower titles at Project Gutenberg, and Lonesome Land is the tenth so far. Published in 1912, this was a more complex work than any of the others I have read. With each book Bower adds layers to her Western Romances. This one certainly did not feel as much like her usual formula of Eastern Lady Meets Cowboy And Falls In Love.
There was an Eastern Lady, though. Valeria arrives in Montana to marry the man she has been engaged to for three years, Manley Fleetwood. During those three years Valeria the society girl has taught herself everything she thinks a rancher's wife needs to know: how to cook, how to clean, everything that she has servants for in her Eastern life but knows she will have to do on her own in Montana.
And Manley? What has he been doing in the three years since he went west to start his ranch near the little town of Hope? Will he be the same man that Valeria has dreamed of all this time? Will her life be as she imagined it? Or something much much different?
As usual with Bower heroines, I did not like Valeria at first. She was snobby, hated everything and everyone, and was so incredibly naive I wanted to smack her. But she learned; she gradually changed for the better. I ended up completely on her side and admired the way she handled herself as she matured and began to understand that life is not always a dream.
Even so, the female character I liked the best in this book was the hotel manager, Arline Hawley. She was a bit rough around the edges, but sympathetic, wise, and a true friend even before our Miss Valeria grew up enough to realize it. And she had a great attitude towards politicians. A presidential candidate was going to stop in Hope while his special train was having its water tank refilled. The people in town and for miles around were all twitterpated over the opportunity to get a look at this man, but not Arline:
He ain't nothing but a man—and, land knows, men is common enough, and ornery enough,
without runnin' like a band of sheep to see one. I don't see as he's any better, jest because he's runnin' for President; if he gits beat, he'll want to hide his head in a hole in the ground. . . . Any fool can run for President—it's the feller that gits there that counts.
Since Manley was a transplanted Easterner he doesn't really count as a true Western Cowboy, but don't worry, there was a man by the name of Kent in the story. He became Valeria's pal and understood her better than anyone else, except maybe Arline. But how long could he go on knowing how much he was in love with this woman who expected nothing more than friendship? And why did he name his horse Michael? (Okay, that has no bearing either way on the story but I am terribly curious about it anyway.)
Every time I read a book by Bower I think 'this was the best one yet' and I can say that again with Lonesome Land. There was drama, action, humor, romance, and a horse named Michael. What more does one need?!
There was an Eastern Lady, though. Valeria arrives in Montana to marry the man she has been engaged to for three years, Manley Fleetwood. During those three years Valeria the society girl has taught herself everything she thinks a rancher's wife needs to know: how to cook, how to clean, everything that she has servants for in her Eastern life but knows she will have to do on her own in Montana.
And Manley? What has he been doing in the three years since he went west to start his ranch near the little town of Hope? Will he be the same man that Valeria has dreamed of all this time? Will her life be as she imagined it? Or something much much different?
As usual with Bower heroines, I did not like Valeria at first. She was snobby, hated everything and everyone, and was so incredibly naive I wanted to smack her. But she learned; she gradually changed for the better. I ended up completely on her side and admired the way she handled herself as she matured and began to understand that life is not always a dream.
Even so, the female character I liked the best in this book was the hotel manager, Arline Hawley. She was a bit rough around the edges, but sympathetic, wise, and a true friend even before our Miss Valeria grew up enough to realize it. And she had a great attitude towards politicians. A presidential candidate was going to stop in Hope while his special train was having its water tank refilled. The people in town and for miles around were all twitterpated over the opportunity to get a look at this man, but not Arline:
He ain't nothing but a man—and, land knows, men is common enough, and ornery enough,
without runnin' like a band of sheep to see one. I don't see as he's any better, jest because he's runnin' for President; if he gits beat, he'll want to hide his head in a hole in the ground. . . . Any fool can run for President—it's the feller that gits there that counts.
Since Manley was a transplanted Easterner he doesn't really count as a true Western Cowboy, but don't worry, there was a man by the name of Kent in the story. He became Valeria's pal and understood her better than anyone else, except maybe Arline. But how long could he go on knowing how much he was in love with this woman who expected nothing more than friendship? And why did he name his horse Michael? (Okay, that has no bearing either way on the story but I am terribly curious about it anyway.)
Every time I read a book by Bower I think 'this was the best one yet' and I can say that again with Lonesome Land. There was drama, action, humor, romance, and a horse named Michael. What more does one need?!
August 22, 2022
A classic Ranch Romance with all of the classic formula in place and so pretty predictable. However, finding out that this story is largely taken from the author's life adds a layer to how I think of this novel. The Mary Sue here is Val, an utterly shallow and rigid character at the start who is both impossible and offensive in this frontier context. Manly (an ironic name obviously) is a sot taken straight from any WCTU pamphlet, but probably close enough to the truth of mixing whiskey and ranching. His fate is probably a mixture of avoiding a notorious outcome, and a bit of wish fulfillment by Bower. Kent, the obvious love interest, is a stand in for the man who in her own life rescued her from her disastrous first marriage and encouraged her interest in writing. Interestingly, this novel was written the year after her separation from him, make what you will of that factoid.
That Val emerges as a pragmatic and yellow-eyed frontier woman probably says more about how Bower viewed her own transition from a soft-handed and unworldly school marm to the wife of an abusive drunk in a remote cabin. There is never a location given for Val's hometown of Aspen Hill and it appears to be a generic 'East", akin to how Boston was used as a marker of a certain kind of cultured intellectual. Bower's own childhood home in western Minnesota probably prepared her far more appropriately for ranching in Montana than we see in Val, yet it probably accurately reflects how she saw her own growth and childish notions.
A pleasing if not remarkable novel written in that fine early twentieth century style.
That Val emerges as a pragmatic and yellow-eyed frontier woman probably says more about how Bower viewed her own transition from a soft-handed and unworldly school marm to the wife of an abusive drunk in a remote cabin. There is never a location given for Val's hometown of Aspen Hill and it appears to be a generic 'East", akin to how Boston was used as a marker of a certain kind of cultured intellectual. Bower's own childhood home in western Minnesota probably prepared her far more appropriately for ranching in Montana than we see in Val, yet it probably accurately reflects how she saw her own growth and childish notions.
A pleasing if not remarkable novel written in that fine early twentieth century style.
June 3, 2022
Yet another second-rate contemporary book drove me back to cowboy books from a century ago. What's going on with modern writers (besides the fact that proper grammar, as it was taught up into the 1960s, if not beyond, seems no longer to matter to writers, who were at one time, presumably, English majors)?
This was fun, albeit a bit different. A young woman, Valaria Peyson, known as Val, comes out to Hope, Montana to marry her sweetheart of three years, Manley Fleetwood (Man). He's changed, although she wouldn't have know it from his letters. It turns out he's become a drunk and doesn't work all that hard on his ranch. When Val arrives at the train station, he's not around. She is met by a somewhat diffident "cowboy", Kent Burnett, who takes her to the local hotel and drops her immediately. Burnett then heads to the local saloon. She thinks he's gone off drinking, but in reality, he's gone to sober up the prospective husband.
Well, things go on. Eventually, Man gets his comeuppance and Burnett is revealed to be a good person and worthy of someone of the likes of Val. Something like that.
This was fun, albeit a bit different. A young woman, Valaria Peyson, known as Val, comes out to Hope, Montana to marry her sweetheart of three years, Manley Fleetwood (Man). He's changed, although she wouldn't have know it from his letters. It turns out he's become a drunk and doesn't work all that hard on his ranch. When Val arrives at the train station, he's not around. She is met by a somewhat diffident "cowboy", Kent Burnett, who takes her to the local hotel and drops her immediately. Burnett then heads to the local saloon. She thinks he's gone off drinking, but in reality, he's gone to sober up the prospective husband.
Well, things go on. Eventually, Man gets his comeuppance and Burnett is revealed to be a good person and worthy of someone of the likes of Val. Something like that.
March 13, 2020
One of Bower's Best
Fast-paced, with characters who become more real with every page, rushing toward an inevitable end like a greek tragedy. Worth the read.
Fast-paced, with characters who become more real with every page, rushing toward an inevitable end like a greek tragedy. Worth the read.
December 12, 2018
This was interesting enough to read all in one day and only put down once. It was not pleasant reading about a young woman coming to grips with learning her new husband is an alcoholic and having him degenerate into an abusive thief. It was good to read how the rather stuck-up young lady learns to make friends with the rough Westerners, and to survive the difficult living conditions with a good bit of bravery. At many spots in the story, it felt as though the circumstances were intensely personal to the author herself, lending a strong authenticity to the story line.
The descriptions of frontier Montana were very interesting and almost tangible--the rough town, the prairie fire, the round-up, the shivaree.
The descriptions of frontier Montana were very interesting and almost tangible--the rough town, the prairie fire, the round-up, the shivaree.
June 26, 2007
Okay, it's not the best book I've ever read, and the writing isn't all that sophisticated, but once you know the background of the author, E.M. Bower (a city woman who 100 years ago was thrust out in the middle of bleak, eastern Montana utter crappiness and then faced her husband's domestic abuse and alcoholism), you get an appreciation for the somewhat autobiographical novel. One of the first female authors and definitely one of the first to touch on alcoholism and domestic violence, the book may be better suited for a Lit class, but it's still a good read just the same.
January 7, 2014
Very readable, good story. Ended too abruptly to be completely satisfying.
January 22, 2014
Not as enjoyable as some of her other books. I see it has a strong autobiographical element.
February 25, 2014
I'll just say, I like old Western Novels even though they are sentimental and predictable.
March 16, 2014
Classic Bower tale
It was, as always, a source of pure joy for me to read and digest Bower's plot. She succeeded again in thoroughly developing the characters.
It was, as always, a source of pure joy for me to read and digest Bower's plot. She succeeded again in thoroughly developing the characters.
May 15, 2014
Four stars for being far ahead of its time - an interesting, if slightly melodramatic feminist novel.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews