Tough Trail Home

By: Marie W. Watts

Narrated by: Danielle Mors

“Tough Trail Home is a delightful read about a family coming to terms with each other and their new lives.”–Pamela Stockwell, author of A Boundless Place

The Dunwhitty family is flying high until their carefully choreographed life falls apart during the 2008 Great Recession. Lisa's firm goes belly-up while Michael's shuts down after selling faulty heart valves. Desperate, Lisa insists they regroup by seeking refuge in rural Central Texas on land she inherits from a distant relative she barely knows.

It's not the ranch Lisa remembers, but a ramshackle money pit. Michael and their teenage son, Andrew, despise the place. Only their young daughter, Jessica, is happy. After a bitter argument, Michael moves to the city. As his job search drags on, Lisa begins to plant roots; friendships develop for her and the children. With the help of Michael's parents, her neighbor, and the remains of her savings, she begins to return the ranch to its former glory. The couple continues to drift further apart, Michael turning his attention to another woman.

A call from the sheriff's department that their son is in custody jolts the couple to the core. Can they repair their relationship for the sake of their son? Or is it too late?

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Character-driven story in small-town Texas

First thing's first -- I felt the need to put a *spoiler alert* on the synopsis above because there are events that I would have rather discovered by reading. Either way, TOUGH TRAIL HOME is a great choice for readers who enjoy character-driven stories of resilience, determination, and healing.

What I enjoyed the most about TOUGH TRAIL HOME is that it places readers in small-town Texas and highlights both the perks and challenges of living there. However, everything is intensified because of how our main character, Lisa Dunwhitty, and her two children are thrown into living on a derelict ranch outside La Grange, Texas. It's a riches to rags story, but much like in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," our characters learn that riches come in a lot of different forms.

"To top it off, the store here only sells Folgers coffee."

The family is accustomed to a life of luxury before the (million dollar Persian) rug is suddenly and unceremoniously pulled out from under them. Watching them in turn cling to and let go of the finer things in life is sometimes painful, sometimes refreshing, and sometimes humorous. But being along for the ride as each of them realizes what's valuable is the payoff in the aptly named TOUGH TRAIL HOME.

Readers must suspend their disbelief a bit, and they'll also have to restrain themselves from wanting to punch the page when it comes to some of the characters' behaviors and thought processes (I'm mostly talking to you, Michael). But any of their shortcomings are offset by the most wonderful and intriguing character, neighbor Carl, who is a saint and a savior to the Dunwhitty family. If only we all had a Carl in our life.

The bones of TOUGH TRAIL HOME are solid, and Watts is clearly an excellent storyteller. I didn't love Lisa's obsessing over her ten-year-old daughter's weight or the ubiquitous but incorrect, "Everyone in Texas has firearms," statement from friend Dorothy. But the other side of that is that Watts evoked reactions, and that's the mark of a great writer. From a technical standpoint, there are a few typos, some inconsistencies with diction, and some unnecessary scenes and details. And the ending is so abrupt that I thought pages were missing. Additional editing and a few more details to reasonably wrap up the story would have taken this novel to the next level for me.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: I listened to TOUGH TRAIL HOME at 1.2x instead of regular speed, and narrator Danielle Mors did an admirable job with the Texas accent and distinguishing between character voices. Her pacing was consistent, but there were enough peculiar or incorrect pronunciations and odd inflections that it was taking me out of the story, so I stopped reading with my ears and switched to reading with my eyes. I am un unusually nitpicky reader, so I imagine many of the things that caught my ear would pass by others, and when the narration was good, it was very good.

TOUGH TRAIL HOME shows how hard it is to find strength when the hits keep coming. It's also a reminder that turning to friends and family and the healing balm of nature will often provide the grounding and stability to put priorities in perspective. The ending leaves readers to create the next chapters for the Dunwhitty family, but it also leaves Marie Watts an opportunity for a sequel. Fingers crossed.