TOUGH TRAIL HOME

By Marie W. Watts

Women’s Literary / Small Town & Rural / Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Pages: 253

Publication Date: March 27, 2024

Synopsis

“Tough Trail Home is a delightful read about a family coming to terms with each other and their new lives.” –Pamela Stockwell, author of A Boundless Place

The Dunwhitty family is flying high until their carefully choreographed life falls apart during the 2008 Great Recession. Lisa’s firm goes belly-up while Michael’s shuts down after selling faulty heart valves. Desperate, Lisa insists they regroup by seeking refuge in rural Central Texas on land she inherits from a distant relative she barely knows.

It’s not the ranch Lisa remembers, but a ramshackle money pit. Michael and their teenage son, Andrew, despise the place. Only their young daughter, Jessica, is happy. After a bitter argument, Michael moves to the city. As his job search drags on, Lisa begins to plant roots; friendships develop for her and the children. With the help of Michael’s parents, her neighbor, and the remains of her savings, she begins to return the ranch to its former glory. The couple continues to drift further apart, Michael turning his attention to another woman.

A call from the sheriff’s department that their son is in custody jolts the couple to the core. Can they repair their relationship for the sake of their son? Or is it too late?

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Review

Love comes in all forms, even in a dysfunctional family.

This tale of the Dunwhitty family might seem familiar to many, as I expect you might have met one or two of these characters in your own lives. Michael is a money-obsessed provider for his family. Yes, he is constantly seeking a better job to make sure his family does not have to do without. His driving force is not wanting to be like his father. Lisa is trying to keep her family afloat while also finding her way in life.

It is because of a job choice made by Michael, and Lisa by default, that they find themselves in a predicament. They luck out when Lisa is left her Uncle’s ranch estate in his will. This rambling ranch in the middle of nowhere (as all ranches are!) leaves much to be desired, especially for this spoiled family. However, this is the place they need to be to get back to basics and discover who they really are as people.

There are many reasons to love and hate most of the characters. Michael is self-absorbed; Lisa is hard on her children, even body shaming her daughter; Andrew is your typical teenage male and seems to only care about himself; and Jessica who is probably the only semi-normal character. However, during the course of the novel, I relished their growth and realization that perhaps there is more to life than money.

There are some unsung characters in this book outside of the family. There is the neighbor, Carl, who is a lifesaver for this family. There are also Michael’s parents, Ellen and Sam, who do a lot for the family. There are also the women that Lisa meets in town, and she forms friendships with them. Each character adds dimension to the story through all the pitfalls the Dunwhitty family encounters.

The author does a masterful job of describing the scenery, and I could picture the ranch in my mind. She also weaves a tale with her words, and I could feel the emotions of the characters and feel for their issues and tragedies. I could sympathize with Lisa raising a teenage boy in a new situation; it couldn’t have been easy.

The ending is rather abrupt, and I would have enjoyed an epilogue to let us know where the family ended up once situations were resolved. And I wanted to know about Carl and how certain things went. Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and we give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

An award-winning author, Marie W. Watts is living her dream of being a writer. Her novel, Tough Trail Home, has received acclaim as a winner of the 2024 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award Summer Competition for Fiction – Women’s Genre; Winner in the 2024 Storytrade Book Awards “Regional Fiction ‐ USA Southwest” category; 2024 Speak Up Talk Radio International Firebird Book Award Winner, and The Outstanding Creator Award for Best Fiction Book of Summer 2024 (2^nd place).

Her novel has garnered reviews such as “inspiring,” “fantastic read,” “beautiful scenery, heart, and hope,” and “a wonderful story about resilience and resourcefulness.”

She and her husband live on a ranch in central Texas. In her spare time, she supports a historic house and hangs out with her grandsons.

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