The Big Dry
1880s Texas: Will Brite is in trouble with the law—his pregnant wife Jessie has mixed- race ancestry. She can pass for white, but there is a law against miscegenation in Texas, and if the authorities find out, he could go to jail. And Will is fighting the coming execution of his jailed Black friend Zeke, who has been convicted of shooting and killing his former master. Will thinks he can prove Zeke’s innocence, if he can catch up with the bad guy Rail, whom Will thinks the evidence points to. Will joins a cattle drive, made very arduous by a severe drought, to try to capture Rail, who is employed on the same drive. To do so he must leave Jessie behind to fend for herself when about to give birth.
The jacket blurb says this Western is a standalone sequel to The Big Drift. I did not have trouble following the story, but think readers may get maximum enjoyment if they read The Big Drift first. Dearen creates interesting secondary characters, like Will’s friend Arch, who won’t use a simple word in conversation when a highfalutin one will do, and Tommy, a young cowhand who likely would be considered on the autism spectrum today. Will, Zeke, and Jessie are empathetic central characters. Vivid descriptions of the effects of a bad drought draw the reader into the setting. The author’s note and short bibliography provide evidence of Dearen’s background research. The last chapter of this enjoyable Western ends with the hint of a possible sequel.
