This Raw, Red Land

About the Book

In 1906 Matt Conover moved his family of ten from Texas to Indian Territory to keep his son Buford out of jail. A year later Ben returns from Texas to help his family through the winter before he departs for Texas to live. That night he meets Esther McMasters and falls in love at first sight before he discovers she is his brother Jed's sweetheart. But Jed has other problems that impact both Ben and Esther.

Buford hasn't quit his criminal ways and, before the night is over, one brother lies dead from ambush and the family is thrown into such turmoil that Matt is afraid it will send his frail wife, Lillie, back into deep depression. As each adult in the family copes with grief differently, Matt says, "This move up here was probably the worst decision I ever made in my life."

About the Author

Voncille Shipley was raised in Healdton, a town near the area depicted in her first novel, This Raw, Red Land. Today she lives in South Central Oklahoma not many miles from that location. She and her husband, John, have an acreage on which they raise pecans and hay.