The Hour of Lead
In the 1920s, eastern Washington is a land of scattered farms and small towns separated by distance, weather, and terrain. Isolated families depend on their own, and a man with no family on himself. When Matt Larson’s father and twin brother die in a freak snowstorm, and his mother falls apart, Matt, 14, has to take charge.
Strong and capable, Matt chooses a peripatetic life. He is clearly a man worthy of love, but – without understanding why or believing in a remedy for it – he still feels inadequate. Fatalistic, stubborn, his personal code includes a loyalty of sorts, but the meaning of love eludes him, even when, long after their initial courtship, he marries Wendy and has children. Years pass before Matt understands his role in their lives – and, by then, someone is trying to kill him.
Holbert’s characters, defined by their temperaments or their sins, are unforgettable. Wendy, the stoic wife Matt chose as a teenager; Roland Jarms, who values Matt above his own son; Horace Jarms, the inveterate gambler displaced by Matt; Garrett, his wealthy, unforgiving friend; and Lucky, a violent, amoral man who thinks that Matt, like everything else he destroys, will be easy to kill.
The Hour of Lead (the title comes from Emily Dickinson) captures the reader in the first daring chapter and, with prose that builds to a driving rhythm, holds on until the end. This is a fine novel and a masterful tribute to the “late” pioneers, men and women who grew up in remote areas of Washington State where, unconnected by good roads or north-south passenger trains, they learned the value of hard work and fair play. Highly recommended.
