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Thickwood
“Some peoples call you misisahk. It means horsefly. You fly with the horses . . . you’re small, with a big bite.”
Raised on a ranch in Saskatchewan’s rugged Thickwood Hills, where the prairie transitions to forest, Willomena Swift, home from playing for the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, finds a precious foal killed by a rogue stallion.
The stallion’s owner, once Willo’s baseball coach, now chairs the committee heading up the new cooperative pasture—a pasture that is set to swallow her family lease, where she grew up, learned to love and understand horses, and dreamed of returning to raise them.
Facing numerous challenges with both the stallion and his owner, Willo remembers her past years playing professional baseball as she struggles to realize her dreams in the present.
Amid romance and tragedy, Willo must find a way to stand on her own and assert her rightful place in her beloved Thickwood.
Raised on a ranch in Saskatchewan’s rugged Thickwood Hills, where the prairie transitions to forest, Willomena Swift, home from playing for the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, finds a precious foal killed by a rogue stallion.
The stallion’s owner, once Willo’s baseball coach, now chairs the committee heading up the new cooperative pasture—a pasture that is set to swallow her family lease, where she grew up, learned to love and understand horses, and dreamed of returning to raise them.
Facing numerous challenges with both the stallion and his owner, Willo remembers her past years playing professional baseball as she struggles to realize her dreams in the present.
Amid romance and tragedy, Willo must find a way to stand on her own and assert her rightful place in her beloved Thickwood.
400 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2022
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 13, 2023
One of the incredible reads of 2023
This novel by Gayle M. Smith is a beautiful bond between “in a league of their own and the horse whisperer. “
Thank you to this incredible writer from Canada for delivering one of finest historical fiction novels of 2023. If you like horses, baseball, and history this is your book!
This novel by Gayle M. Smith is a beautiful bond between “in a league of their own and the horse whisperer. “
Thank you to this incredible writer from Canada for delivering one of finest historical fiction novels of 2023. If you like horses, baseball, and history this is your book!
October 31, 2022
The Review
This was a truly engaging and richly developed period drama meets genre fiction read. The author expertly wove a special story of facing adversity head-on and overcoming the tragedies we are hit with in life in an effort to move forward, pursue our dreams and maybe even find love. The atmosphere and tone helped elevate the novel’s deep-seated themes and powerful character development, and the rich setting of the late 1940s, and early 1950s era middle America kept me invested in these characters with some fantastic history.
Yet as I mentioned before, the character growth and themes that this novel explored really made it something special. The ways in which the protagonist not only grew into the role of the independent and secure land owner but also used this growth to highlight the themes of empowerment, the struggle through adversity, and the will to find our passions in life, made this novel such a stunning work of art. The history and culture of middle America during this period of time were so rich to see come to life on the page, as it highlighted the struggle many independent women had as our nation came out of the war and women were found to be running the lives that these men had left behind during the war.
The Verdict
Captivating, thought-provoking, and entertaining, author Gayle M. Smith’s “Thickwood” is a must-read genre fiction novel. The period piece does an excellent job of showcasing both sides of Willo’s life, from her past as a star player to her desire to run her family’s livelihood and care for the horses that brought her so much joy as a child.
This was a truly engaging and richly developed period drama meets genre fiction read. The author expertly wove a special story of facing adversity head-on and overcoming the tragedies we are hit with in life in an effort to move forward, pursue our dreams and maybe even find love. The atmosphere and tone helped elevate the novel’s deep-seated themes and powerful character development, and the rich setting of the late 1940s, and early 1950s era middle America kept me invested in these characters with some fantastic history.
Yet as I mentioned before, the character growth and themes that this novel explored really made it something special. The ways in which the protagonist not only grew into the role of the independent and secure land owner but also used this growth to highlight the themes of empowerment, the struggle through adversity, and the will to find our passions in life, made this novel such a stunning work of art. The history and culture of middle America during this period of time were so rich to see come to life on the page, as it highlighted the struggle many independent women had as our nation came out of the war and women were found to be running the lives that these men had left behind during the war.
The Verdict
Captivating, thought-provoking, and entertaining, author Gayle M. Smith’s “Thickwood” is a must-read genre fiction novel. The period piece does an excellent job of showcasing both sides of Willo’s life, from her past as a star player to her desire to run her family’s livelihood and care for the horses that brought her so much joy as a child.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews