Tie That Binds, The - Kent Haruf

A fine novel which dramatically and accurately explores the lives of people who work the land in the stark American Middle West` NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Colorado, April 1977. Eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough lies in a hospital bed, IV taped to the back of her hand, police officer at her door. She is charged with murder. The clues: a sack of chicken feed slit with a knife, a milky-eyed dog tied outdoors one cold afternoon. The motives: the brutal business of farming and a family code of ethics as unforgiving as the winter prairie itself. In his critically acclaimed first novel, Kent Haruf delivers the sweeping tale of a woman of the American High Plains, as told by her neighbour, Sanders Roscoe. As Roscoe shares what he knows, Edith`s story unfolds, a story of sacrifice and freedom. Breathtaking and determinedly truthful. The Tie That Binds is a powerful tribute to the arduous demands of rural America, and to the tenacity of the human spirit.