Jeannette Walls

"Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born into comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident,...

A true-life novel about Lily Casey Smith (the author's grandmother) who at age six helped her father break horses, at age fifteen left home to teach in a frontier town, and later as a wife and mother runs a vast ranch in Arizona where she survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy--but despite a life of hardscrabble drudgery still remains a woman of indomitable spirit.