Plain Language

Virginia Mendenhall, a Quaker from North Carolina, is thirty-three years old when she travels to the arid plains of eastern Colorado in the mid-1930s to marry Alfred Bowen, ten years her senior. They have met only twice and have come to love each other through letters. Now, on an isolated ranch in the Dust Bowl, they must adjust to the harsh ranching life and the dangers of an untamed landscape, as well as the differences between them.
With an extended drought worsening the impact of the Depression in the West, neighbors turn against neighbors, and secrets from Alfred and Virginia's pasts come back to haunt them. But it is the arrival of Virginia's troubled brother on the ranch that sets off a chain of events with life-and-death consequences for them all.
Plain Language is a beautifully told tale of a man and woman fighting against tremendous odds for their land -- and their love.

Author: Barbara Wright
Publisher: Touchstone Books
Published: 04/02/2003
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780743230209
Award: Spur Awards - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2003 pg. 181

About the Author
Barbara Wright, a novelist and screenwriter,
lives in Kansas City, Missour